Lore

This is Alore. At its heart lies Azergad, the continent where the races of man have lived alongside one another for thousands of years. Collectively, the nations are called the Realms of the Pact, bound together by the Great Pact signed at Thilidan nearly three thousand years ago. The Pact formalized their borders and set a framework for peace among the peoples.

The Paragons of Man had already led their peoples since the beginning. Though they rule their home nations, the Paragons give back to the Realms of the Pact by governing their own share of international responsibilities. Together, they have built a prosperous and peaceful society through the generations.

Time in Azergad is counted in generations. The 1st Generation ended with the Treaty of Marram (890 1G). The 2nd and 3rd Generations each lasted a thousand years. The 4th Generation is underway, currently residing at the year 110 4G.

Inazria

Inhabited by hardy farmers and nomadic cattle herders, Inazria is a coastal country east of Kystriland separated by the Violet Sea. The capital of Inazria is at Thilidan, the largest city in the known world built upon the Thilidan River, in the southern part of the country. Thilidan’s sprawling metropolis is thought to be the largest and most important in the world. The city invites opportunities of every kind from every race of man. Yet, the recent population expansion has created an imbalance of uneasiness in the population. A city of extremes, Thilidan harbors the world’s wealthiest families living mere kilometers from the largest slums in the world.

The central part of the country is spacious, fertile and tropical. The region is split between tropical forests to the west and dry, temperate plains to the east by the Marram mountain range. The crossroads city of Marlis is a traveler’s preferred path through the rugged Marram to Bisengal in the northeast. Inazria’s hub of ideation and creation, Marlis was founded next to huge natural deposits of materials like iron, copper, coal, and rare gryxite ore. The border to Bisengal is marked just east of the city where the mountains settle. Further north, in the thin sliver of foothills sandwiched between the marram and the Bisengal border lies the small remnants of the Palcha kingdom.

Along the gulf to the northwest, Windfall is home to traders and pioneers amidst a largely unexplored temperate landscape. The coast’s arable wetlands provide a wonderful blueprint for irrigated farmlands. Home to many humans, halflings, Dalvas and orcs, Windfall boasts a reputable hub for naval trade across the Violet Sea. West along the gulf road, the coffee-and-sailcloth town of Rimah keeps its three-cup hospitality and festival weather-songs; further north, the fishing village of Nalukesh blesses its nets each season and keeps a wall of painted hull-boards for the lost. The thick, flat jungle landscape inland is known for numerous small lakes and rivers as well as deep caverns shrouded in mystery. Rural villagers tell stories of vast sprawling dungeons and tunnels filled with unthinkably hostile adversaries.

South of Thilidan, the spice-terrace town of Suryakal sends floating oil-lamps down the canals at the Festival of Floating Fire, while further inland Padmapur draws pilgrims to its many river shrines and the First Naming coming-of-age walk. East of Marlis, the drover market of Dharafel settles disputes by recounting hospitality as readily as by counting cattle.

North of Windfall, the climate rapidly becomes temperate and sparsely populated. The coastline quickly turns eastward and northward, racing towards the flattening edge of the Marram mountains. A small region exists just west of the northern Marram mountain tip where the soil is quite fertile; the Cahokari elves make their home here. Though the temperature drops quickly as ships sail north from here, the large, mysterious island Andasena appears.

Azelliot

To the east of Thilidan lies Azelliot, the breadbasket of Azergad. Most of the land is a flat plain supporting temperate forests full of life. North Azelliot becomes a warm and humid marshland as it approaches the Marram Mountains towards the Bisengal border. As Azelliot stretches southeastward, the landscape splits up into cold islands before reaching the tundra lands at the “bottom of the world”.

Azelliot itself is shaped somewhat like one of the great horns the Dalvas sound across the fields. Its narrow ‘mouthpiece’ in the northwest is called the Vash, a foothill country gathered beneath the Marram. From there the land swells into a long throat called the Luba, whose grasslands and grainfields are the breadbasket’s beating heart. Drowning at its northern edge, the Luba is swallowed by the fens that border Zilwynbar. The ‘horn’ of Azelliot opens up like a wide bell flung toward the southeast: a region called the Zavu - where the plains fall toward the cold edge of the world. The Zavu remains a mysterious and dangerous region, where the threat of roaming undead leaves the furthest edges to be fully explored. Along the realm’s southwestern flank, where the rolling country breaks against the Veldt, lies the shaded frontier of the Shava. The Shava Dalvas of this frontier are the great guides of the Veldt crossings, leading caravans along the roads of ropes strung between the upper and lower layers to link Azelliot with Inazria, Avarazhan, and the shores beyond.

The Veldt

Thilidan and central Avarazhan are split by the Veldt, an impressively dense forest of extremely tall trees famously home to the Veldtwin elves. The trees of the Veldt are unlike anything else in the world. Trees of the Veldt grow very tightly together despite being massive: most of multiple kilometers tall, trunks are the sizes of buildings, and leaves collectively make sturdy platforms to move across. There are famously 4 seperate vertical levels of the Veldt (called layers). The ground layer is very dark and dangerous - many monsterous creatures live there and few return to tell about it. The lower level is less mysterious, but is still full of hazardous wildlife and considered dangerous for outsiders. The upper layer is where many Elves, Halflings and Dalvas live, despite being between 4-5 kilometers off the ground on average. The typical travelling paths taken between towns and cities crossing the Veldt are done in between the upper and lower layers. Finally, the sky layer is at the top of the trees: home primarily to flying creatures large and small, only certain tribal peoples or pilgrims would take permanent residence their. In the high canopy, virtually nothing protects from the sun’s hot, harsh rays. All accounted for, the Veldt reaches from the southwestern shores of the Violet Sea up to the central and eastern parts Azergad, stretching into the nations of Inazria, Avarazhan, Azelliot, and Zilwynbar (plus a handful of islands on the southern tip of the Kystriland chain).

Along the western edge of Avarazhan, the forest abruptly halts in an unbroken rampart of stone called the Bashan coast before picking up once again across the chaotic Asuran wildland islands. It is a scarp that runs the length of the coast, raw rock falling sheer into deep water with no beach to soften the meeting. The Veldt grows right to the lip and beyond. Its outermost giants overhang the void, roots clutching the cliff edge like fingers over a ledge, and over the centuries the eldest of them have toppled whole into the sea. The rains pool upon the hanging canopy, so the leaves must bleed into rivers, which gather kilometers overhead and spill off the Bashan edge in towering ribbons of falling water that scattering to mist long before reaching the Violet Sea underneath. Westward, the drowned remnants of the same land breaks the surface as the Asuran isles. They appear as low-lying shattered ridges, the tallest still crowned with surviving Veldt giants gone strange and wild in their isolation. Accounts detail some of the most chaotic and untamed places in all Azergad.

Avarazhan

To the south of the Veldt lies the coastal plateau region of Avarazhan. The land rises as a great uplifted plateau of ancient, stable rock - a perfect place to gaze beyond the stars on a typical clear night. To the south and west lie many rivers that cut through the edges of the plateau into stunning natural waterfall drains. The high rock gradually blends into canyons and flat-topped mesas as it travels eastward. Further east, the land here becomes drier and colder as the land lowers into stony hills and rocky beaches. As Avarazhan and Azelliot meet in the southeast, the warmth rapidly drained from the lands. The coast itself begins to split into glacial fjord country before the tundra emerges, announcing the begining of the edge of the world. Down here, the aurora burns in bands of emerald and sapphire beyond neverending frozen wasteland.

Kystrilands

West of Inazria lies the expansive Kystrilands, the largest island chain in the world. According to the Great Ledger, there are more than 20,000 islands spanning the longitude of several nations with varying degrees of civilization. Different islands are home to many different cultures and people groups. Northern islands tend to be sandy, rocky and volcanic, while southern islands tend to be tropical and heavily forested. The islands are loosely organized into rings: the inner ‘ring’ begins just off the coast of Windfall, arcing west and then to the south of the Violet sea. The outer ring is further away from the mainland, consist of numerous small to tiny islands, and is more spread out overall. The largest islands in the chain reside in the geographical center of the inner ring, which tend to be urbanised and are farthest away from mainland Inazria. The islands generally form an “arc” which faces the mainland. Islands on the outer ring and beyond tend to be extremely dangerous due to the presence of unpredictable natural activity and vastly untamed and large wildlife. Far beyond the outer ring to the northwest, across some of the most treacherous seas in the world, lies the great lake island of Andasena, known to the wider world mostly through old records and sailors’ tales.

Zilwynbar

Between the great plains of Azelliot to the south and the dry tundra of Bisengal to the north lies Zilwynbar, the smallest of the Realms yet the most abundant in life. The wetland terrain, which makes up the bulk of Zilwynbar’s land, is the gift of the mighty Kerangala river, born of melting snow high in the Marram. The Kerangala runs east across the lowlands, fraying along the way into hundreds of lesser channels that wander across a flat basin no wider than a week’s march. The land of Zilwynbar exude growth, creativity and abundance. Nowhere else in Azergad does so much press into so little; the warm, shallow water breeds a staggering diversity of crops, animals, birds, fish and, unfortunately, beasts as well. Scattered across the region’s lakes and slow rivers stand the simple villages of the Limnari, the only Kelanari peoples to live outside the Violet Sea.

In the southwest, the Veldt comes to its end. The titanic trees thin and stoop as the ground turns soft beneath them, until the last of the giants stand drowned to the knee in the small region called the Fennveldt. It is here where the vast forest finally loses its grip and the marsh claims what is left behind. Out east, the channels of the Aaldemar delta slow and turn brackish as they near the coast. The river and sea blur into one trembling expanse of salt and reed that belongs to neither — a coastline that spells treachery for sailors and traders of all kinds. In the Aaldemar, only the cunning, bravery and wit of the Aaldegar halflings could beat the region’s beasts and terrain far enough back to make it their home. Further east still, beyond the delta’s reach, the restless volcanic chain of the Morybell Isles smokes along the horizon, home to the Keldale halflings and their vent-fired forges.

Bisengal

Beyond the Marram, in the long rain-shadow of the same peaks whose snowmelt feeds the Kerangala, lies Bisengal — the expansive dry, windswept dominion of the Orcs. Bisengal is the largest single territory in all of Azergad, despite being sparsely populated even within its cities. The heartland is Targai, a vast cold steppe of frostbitten grass and bare stone that rolls on farther than any traveler cares to walk. This is the country of the Dramkhani, the heartland orcs and heirs of the ancient Dramakha — nomads who follow their herds across the frostbitten grass, and the stock from which Karhu herself is sprung. Wind owns this land, carrying the sharp, guttural speech of the Orcs farther than any voice should reach. The Dramtal scours the bones of fallen empires, strewn with the ruins of the Dramakha and the dynasties that chased its memory, half-swallowed now by dust and cold. At its center stands Khurz-Marn, the citadel of Karhu, where the High Tribunal keeps the hardest law in Azergad. The city lies at the northern shore of Bisengal’s salty sea, an outlet for the Marram mountain that never makes it to the harsh, cold shore. During the winter months, the sea freezes over completely.

To the south and east, the steppe withers into the Oztagh, a true desert of scorching days and freezing nights where the Gushbek hold sovereign territory — runners of the horizon who charted these wastes long before the clans claimed them, and who still keep towns in the northern wetlands of Zilwynbar. The harsh terrain relents only at the border, where the green channels of the Kerangala spill across into halfling country and an honored trade friendship endures. Along the western and southern rim rise the Karatagh, the black peaks the Orcs took from the Hyzalians by the Treaty of Marram, where the Yaz’togal raise their fortress-cities in stride with the passes between nations. Far to the west, where the range crumbles into a maze of steep-walled canyons, lies the secluded Palcha Valley, a lasting history of a people who once ruled this whole frontier. It is a hard country in every direction, but it’s a harshness native Orcs boast of while grinning ear to ear.

The Paragons of Man

In the earliest days of Azergad, the ancient races were left to bring order to the world. Each race produced a sole individual to guide them through the new frontier. The immortal Paragons of Man are the purest of heart, the wisest in mind, and the highest in spirit.

The Paragons soon arranged a constitution that formalized the Realms of the Pact. The Great Pact formalized country barriers, created international roads for trade and travel, identified a common language separate from national languages, and established a loose guide for maintaining peace at large. The Seven Realms signed at Thilidan: the tropical peninsula of Inazria (inhabited by the Humans), the dry tundra of Bisengal (inhabited by the Orcs), the vast chain of islands called Kystriland (inhabited by the Dwarves), the deep dark woodlands of Avarazhan (inhabited by the Elves), the lowland marsh called Zilwynbar (inhabited by the Halflings), the vast Violet Sea (inhabited by the Kelanari), and the great plains of Azelliot (inhabited by the Dalvas). The Marram mountains, home to the Hyzalians, were set apart by the Marram Covenant and did not sign. That day signified the first day of the first month of the first Generation of time, where the earliest known records began.

Hours later, the peace was in shambles. The Hyzalian named Zhu’kal, the White-Cold Wizard, had discovered a power unlike anything ever seen before. His newfound strength was not magic as mankind had ever wielded, but something never before seen or understood. The violent snowstorm erupted over tropical Thilidan. Zhu’kal’s intent was clear from the beginning: eliminate the Paragons at any cost. The Paragons hid as the wind and hail stayed strong for 3 dusks, while Zhu’kal and his zealous minions hunted them. On the third day, the Hyzalian Zaomyth alone confronted Zhu’kal, and tried to reason with him to halt the storm; Zaomyth’s pleas, utterly ignored, were met with fierce combat. Zaomyth fought back, and after slaying the last of Zhu’kal’s followers, the White-Cold Wizard cast a spell to banish Zaomyth to an unknown plane. The brutal storm had taken many lives across Azergad.

Finally, on the dawn of January 4th, 1 1G, a bright light washed across the landscape. In a flicker, the storm subsided. Zhu’kal and his followers were nowhere to be seen or heard from again.

Members of the Paragons were said to be the most noble and wise of their peoples, providing a combination of impressive characteristics and high regards in the bloodline. They seem to be immortal, guiding their followers still four generations later. The Paragons are undoubtedly the greatest leaders Azergad has ever seen.

Each Paragon embodies a distinct virtue, keeps their seat in their people’s homeland, and leads an order of brave and noble fighters sworn to bear that virtue into the wider world. Someone who pledges their oath to serve at the hand of a Paragon is called a Paladin.

• Narthex, Father of Peace — The Paragon of the Humans resides at the Hall of First Light in Thilidan. He embodies patience and the conviction that violence must end where it began. He founded the Concord, a multinational Paladin order whose white-mantled knights act as neutral mediators on the treaty-roads of Azergad. Knights of the Concord swear to offer parley before steel. Chronicles credit Narthex with many major mediations since the Pact, including the Treaty of Marram. Common folk say he wept when Zaomyth was banished by Zhu’kal in the White-Cold storm.
• Karhu, Queen of Justice — The Paragon of the Orcs presides over the High Tribunal at the citadel of Khurz-Marn, in the dry tundra of Bisengal. She holds the highest judicial bench in Azergad, personally overseeing the justice done to Azergad’s worst offenders. Her fervor for justice is famous, as is the swiftness of her verdicts (and her less-than-typical mercifulness). The Yargharu ride at her writ as judge, jury, and executioner against evils of many kinds. They hunt thieve’s guilds, slave traders, oathbreakers, and rogue magisters who outrun their own nation’s law. Karhu led the Bisengalian campaign that ended the Hyzal’s place upon the Marram.
• Valadorf, Keeper of the Law — The Paragon of the Dwarves rules from the High Court of Kalindor in central Kystriland. He embodies precedent, order, and the sanctity of the sworn word. He maintains the Great Ledger, in which every signed accord of the four Generations is bound and recopied by hand, including the trade compacts and commercial codes that bind the Realms of the Pact. His Pillars of Kalindor answer to two sworn duties. The first is the physical defense of the Ledger and personal protection to the Paragons themselves. The second is the enforcement of commercial law across Azergad. Throughout Kystriland ports and counting-houses, a Pillar’s drawn shield is the final word on smuggling and fraud.
• Ashiera, Seer of Will — The Paragon of the Elves dwells in Quietsong, beneath the deepest groves of Avarazhan. She embodies foresight, patience, and deep intellect through careful study. She rarely sits at the Council of Seven and is almost never seen by her Elves, let alone outsiders. Her closest allies say a single glance from her is said to read the will of the soul itself - even discovering what they have desperately hidden from themselves. Her Wardens of Will are an order in her own image, cloistered for decades of training and sworn to silence in public. They are loosed only against the threats that operate in the shadows and cross generations. It is said that the Wardens have foiled the plots of hidden cults, oaths seeped in secrecy, and the slow corruptions of court and crown. Their long lifespans and experience of past Generations also make them sought-after counsel.
• Calrien, High Shepherd of Alore — The Paragon of the Kelanari holds no fixed court, traveling across the wild reaches of Azergad as her duties demand. Her and her Shepherds regard the natural world itself as their ward. Her Shepherds answer to two sworn callings. The first is to rescue those in peril far from civilization, such as sailors lost at sea, caravans stranded by natural disasters, or travellers swallowed up by the Veldt. The second is to defend the natural wonders of Alore from those who would waste or despoil them.
• Myrdin the Meek — The Paragon of the Dalvas walks the open plains of Azelliot. Myrdin the Meek takes no permanent seat and refuses every title beyond his name. He embodies humility and the conviction that the smallest soul is worth the same as the highest. He publically speaks against evil when he sees it, and he especially reviles necromancy and the dark arts. The Sangoman travel across Azergad, healing and teaching the sick and poor while destroying every trace of evil they come across. They wear no heraldry, accept no payment, and never draw their blades first.
• Ostro, Author of Knowledge — The Paragon of the Halflings resides at the Great Library at Zilwynbar. He embodies wisdom, memory, and counsel. Over the Generations he has gathered the world’s knowledge, building his Library up as the foremost authority on every craft of Azergad, magical and otherwise. It also holds a copy of Azergad’s every chronicle, which are read aloud each year at the annual New Solar Reading. The Arbiters are renowned for their intellect and serve as advisors to kings, magistrates, and adventuring companies. Senior Arbiters are also versed in certain arcane rites and workings drawn from the Library’s deeper shelves. They are sworn never to withhold a true word in counsel, and never to speak a false one.

Beyond the Paragons

For the nine centuries that followed, the Marram Covenant held the Hyzalian heights set apart from the Realms of the Pact. Trade and travel moved regularly through Marlis and the passes, and the lower slopes saw their share of incidents during this time. After over 900 years of development, numerous small wars and conflicts, and innovations in thought, Karhu sought to punish the Hyzalians for the acts of their ancestors. The Hyzalians were, and are even still, poorly understood. Seemingly lacking in technical and social progression, the Paragon-less Hyzalians clung to traditions and mystical, primal practices. As a culture, they do not trust outsiders and refuse outsider counsel.

Emboldened Orcish forces greatly outnumbered and outpaced the lackluster and disjointed Hyzalian military response, driving those few remaining Hyzal to the peaks of the highest Marram summits. Now greatly reduced in population and space, the Paragons met to herald peace once more. The Treaty of Marram, signed on the 11th day of the 10th month, 890 1G, redrew the country boundaries to expand Bisengal into parts of the Marram. In exchange for great military aid, and as a plea for help from the few remaining Hyzal, the lower slopes were divided into Bisengalian and Inazrian jurisdictions. The Hyzal remained in cloistered tribal communities atop the harsh mountain landscape, officially gaining lawful Inazrian or Bisengal citizenship, though Hyzalians would still live in self-imposed isolation even in the 110th year of the 4th Generation. Since the Treaty of Marram was orchestrated mostly without the input of the Hyzalians themselves, many deep scars from the conflict live on today. Due to the hastily drawn borders, thousands of communities and families became fragmented and at times are living at odds against each other. Many generations-old squabbles persist into the modern day, holding the Hyzalians further back from assimilating with Azergad culture. This great event marked the turn of the 1st Generation; each Generation since has lasted a thousand years, save the first.