Miasmia

Miasmia is a land that ironically became shrouded in a dark fog (a.k.a. a miasma) after a demonic invasion 500 years ago forced powerful magical beings that dwelled upon to unleash their powers all at once. In the year 3020, Miasmia lies abandoned to the east of Astrea, where it's desolate landmass is threatened by the advent of another demonic force.

Miasmia was formerly ruled by a Queen, but now it's inhabited by anarchist communities scattered across the land, with no real leader to unite them all. Many of these communities are not even aware of each others' existence, as they rarely ventured out into the all-encompassing Fog.

Miasmia also uses the Standardized Timekeeping System.

## The Land of Miasmia

A map of Miasmia, created by explorers in the First Crusade Fleet.

## Notable Historic Events

### **Founding**

According to legend, Miasmia was founded when the Sovereign's siblings, the Six Gods, disagreed with His plan to indoctrinate mortals into worshipping him, and decided to create Their own civilization on a different land mass, where Their people would be free to do what they please. It is said that the Six Gods captured a grouped of mortals before the Sovereign and His chosen ones could influence them, and brought them over to Miasmia on a ship made from spider webs that began to dissolve in the water. The mortal who remained the most calm and rational during such a time of crisis, a lizardfolk by the name of Shrede, was chosen to be the first Queen of Miasmia.

### **Attempts to Worship the Six Gods**

Despite the fact that the Six Gods who helped found Miasmia are gods, they refused to be worshipped by their people, fearing that Miasmians would become just like the Sovereign's followers, thus rendering the entire operation pointless. The Six Gods even took forms reminiscent of mortal people and beasts to create an image of familiarity, but some fringe groups of Miasmians still built temples and statues to honor the Six Gods against their best efforts.

### **Relationship With Astrea**

Between the years 1490 and 1850 , Astrea and Miasmia gradually discovered each other's existence through seafaring and exploration. The two lands engaged in active communication and trade in the year 1890, only for such activities to decrease a mere 60 years later as the two nations slowly realized just how different their founding ideologies were, and how many similar natural resources they produced.

### **Past Demonic Invasions**

The demonic invasion of 2020 had little effect on Miasmia, for even its targeted nation of Astrea was barely aware of it. However, the next invasion in 2520 completely destroyed Miasmia, as the demon forces overprepared for the attack and overwhelmed the Miasmian military. The Six Gods were forced to abandon the land, creating the Fog in the process in an attempt to drive off the attacking demons. Miasmia was left abandoned, as even though Astrea became aware of its destruction, the other nation was completely unsure of what to do about it as from fortifying their own defenses. Fortunately, the demons never attacked Astrea, having left to escape the Fog.

### **The Current Demonic Invasion**

Demons in the Realm of Chaos began to run out of resources harvested from Miasmia after centuries of mismanagement, and a new invasion was planned in 3020 to raid Miasmia once again, despite the Fog. Fearing that the demons would spread to Astrea, the Crusades were sent to explore Miasmia and stop the demonic threat.

## The Queen

Miasmia was ruled by a lizardfolk queen, who could choose anyone in the land to marry as long as he was male and virile, and their eldest daughter would be the next queen. If no daughters were produced in a generation, magic would be used to the change the sex of a male heir instead.

When the demons attacked in 2520, the then queen, Egiss, headed into battle against them herself, only to fall to their corruption and magic, leaving her only daughter behind.

In 3020, the royal line of Miasmia had long since been lost, and no longer held any authority when compared to the various lords and ladies who ruled isolated communities across the land. Despite this, the bloodline survived, and its most recent direct heir is the lizardfolk thief Iolite.

## The Tribes & Their Lords

After the demonic invasion of 2520, Miasmia fell into chaos as its people scrambled to cope with both the death of their queen and the presence of the Fog. Charismatic and powerful individuals quickly became local leaders during the ensuing crisis, and eventually, they formed cults of personality around their own bloodlines much like the queen.

What used to be towns and cities across Miasmia developed into their own "tribes" with different traditions and beliefs, and their leaders are referred to as "lord" or "lady" depending on their sex. There is an uncountable amount of these tribes scattered across the land of Miasmia, and this article will only cover some of the more influential ones.

### **The Wolf Pack**

The Wolf Pack is a nomadic tribe that only accepts wolfkins as members. Its lord is also often referred to as the "Alpha," and is almost always male. The Wolf Pack is known to harass other communities in the massive overgrown forest in southern Miasmia, but can never establish true dominance over the region due to their superstitious fear of magic.

### **The Beach Club**

The Beach Club is a tribe located within an abandoned temple on the western coast of Miasmia, and made up almost entirely of donkeyfolks. Allegedly, before the demonic invasion, the Beach Club was home to a criminal organization who captured random Miasmians and transformed them into donkeyfolks so they won't be recognized, and subjected them to the depraved desires of high-paying customers. Today, the same donkeyfolks whose ancestors were abused slaves rule their own corner of Miasmia with pride.

### **The Burrowing Dragons**

The Burrowing Dragons are a tribe made of kobolds, who ended up in Miasmia during the early 1900s. They are descendants of slaves to an Astrean noble, who moved to Miasmia to escape his family's expectations, only for his bloodline to end during the demonic invasion. Now, his slaves have their own community deep underground, where they worship a true dragon who treats them with mutual respect.

### **The Chimeric Legion**

The serpentine sorceress Ekha, who formerly served the queen of Miasmia as the one to change the sex of any male heirs, escaped during the demonic invasion and obtained near-immortality by magically transforming her own body until she had the internal organs of a dragon. Now, she rules a tribe of individuals who have been rejected by other tribes for physical deformities, but were "cured" by her through transformation magic.

### **The Scholars of Secrets**

The Scholars of Secrets are the kobold servants of a dragon by the name of Rixl, who had been living since before the demonic invasion and tasked with guarding Miasmia's royal library. After the invasion ruined the royal palace, Rixl and his followers escaped into a hidden underground lair, where they continue to protect Miasmia's knowledge and secrets till this very day.

## The Fog

The Fog is a powerful magical curse created by the Six Gods of Miasmia as a last-ditch effort to hold back the demonic invasion. If a creature who breathed in the Fog dies, then their body will transform into a mass of black slime that attacks and absorbs any living being from another realm. In other words, as the Fog spreads across Miasmia, an army rose from the corpses of those who lost their lives to demons, and the more the demons killed, the stronger their opposition became, eventually pushing the demonic forces into retreat.