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Chronicles of Mesion: Considering Hiatus; Comments Needed.
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<blockquote data-quote="LordVyreth" data-source="post: 2828872" data-attributes="member: 9626"><p><strong>Mesion Campaign Details #4</strong></p><p></p><p>Next up is a quick guide to other major locations on the world of Mesion. There's no guarantee the party will visit all or any of them, but it's a good start in terms of preparation for future adventures.</p><p></p><p>The Toridanir Arcanum</p><p></p><p> The Toridanir Arcanaum is a neutral good city. It is a magocracy run by well-meaning idealists who believe in creating utopia through the use of magic. Artificers are trained here, but the penalties for leaving the nation are minimal, largely because entry into the program is so restrictive that only the most loyal and idealistic members are allowed in the first place. Toridanir is known for its elaborate magic-based programs intended to fix long-term societal problems, though other cities often disagree with the existence of a problem in the first place, let alone their solution to it. </p><p></p><p>Zoridel, The Glorious Eternal Light</p><p></p><p> Zoridel is a lawful good city located on a good-aligned area left over from the Godfield War. The Zoridel administration (named after St. Zoridel of the Heironous faith but also a play on the city name Solar Devotion, which Zoridel has its roots in,) is unusual in its insistence that the Godfield War was a justified battle and that clearly the celestials won, as the world isn’t overrun by evil. Nonetheless, they believe that the ultimate campaign against evil is not over; it just progressed beyond open warfare. The city still supports a number of militant orders whose members maintain order inside and outside the city, much to the frequent annoyance of other nations. Those crusaders, often nicknamed Zores, are potential adversaries of even other good forces.</p><p></p><p>Lirawonowaril</p><p></p><p> Lirawonowaril is the second mage-run city-state. Its leader is a True Neutral sorcerer named Xurim of the Unblinking Eye. He is regarded as incredibly intelligent and a good leaders in general, but he’s also considered crazed. He’s paranoid and obsessed with balance, and his traits got far worse recently after an expedition into the Gate of Madness. He actually may know far more about the truth than nearly everyone, but it’s mixed in with more delusional ideas. His city has a very strict observance of neutrality, and churches dedicated to gods of the four extreme elements are not allowed in the city.</p><p></p><p>Orr Kalen</p><p></p><p> Orr Kalen is the only city-state built on an evil-tainted land. It’s a lawful evil nation, unsurprisingly, and is known for its strong beliefs on the superiority of the old races and even the primitive humanoids over the new and lost races. They practice warforged and shifter slavery, which is not unique among the city states, but they do so far more openly than other nations. In addition, they have a policy of not allowing any kalashtar, dromites, xephs, or maenads into the city, and they execute elans and changelings upon discovery!</p><p></p><p>Stahl Modred</p><p></p><p> Stahl is the only surviving state that existed as a formal nation before the Godfield War. It was originally regarded as a bastion of culture and tolerance, though not necessarily democracy and civil rights. To survive the war, however, its people grew increasingly desperate and they lost many of their most treasured values in an attempt to preserve their civilization. The end result was lawful neutral, mostly benign dictatorship with strong military elements and a people with an almost Spartan level of state and military devotion. While the common citizens have a relative level of rights (though free speech is often curtailed,) individual races are subjected to slavery or overt discrimination, especially the warforged, shifters, elans and changelings. The government itself doesn’t take actions against any races except for elans and changelings, but it lets private businesses engage in their reprehensible actions.</p><p></p><p>Shi Nella</p><p></p><p> Though the elves had a fairly impressive structured society before the Godfield War, the devastation of the war and the elves’ general decision to return to nature destroyed many of those civilizations, leaving only Shi Nella. Shi Nella managed to avoid much of the damage of the war due to both their isolation and magical protections. They have since emerged as a dominant force for elven culture, despite its own internal struggles. The political crises in Shi Nella mostly revolve around battles between the gray and high elves, who are generally progressive and in favor of advanced technology and relations with other city-states, and the wood and wild elves, who are traditional, emphasize the city’s natural properties, and often justify their positions based on their longer history with Shi Nella. Much of Shi Nella’s culture is of vaguely Asian influence.</p><p></p><p>Gilded Darfal-Zezzin</p><p></p><p> Calling this city a fully-recognized city-state is controversial. It only recently increased its population to that near the other city-states, and its unusual government makes it position as a city or state questionable. In many ways, it’s much closer to a massive business! Darfal-Zezzin is co-ruled by dwarves and gnomes and it treated as a plutocracy with the presidents of the Coin Counters Guild and other guilds as the city’s rulers/owners. The city is located inside a mountain and is dedicated almost entirely to Guild business. However, the workings of the corporation have created an even larger number of support businesses, from housing for the workers and providing for their needs and entertainment to a fully functional military dedicated to protecting company interests.</p><p></p><p>Durrackrej (Drej)</p><p></p><p> If Darfal-Zezzin’s claim to city-statehood is a controversy, Duurackrej (or just Drej, as most people call it,) is considered little better than a joke. The nation was formed when an orc chieftain of great power absorbed similarly powerful lizardfolk and gnoll tribes. The latter two were too powerful for him to simply conquer, so he reluctantly agreed to form a new governing trifecta, though he would have the greater authority of the three leaders. The combined force soon created a permanent settlement that attracted other humanoid tribes like a beacon, creating a vaguely stable city that existed contrary to the normally chaotic or at least primitive nature of the uncivilized humanoids. Nonetheless, the city maintains ordered and culture in only the loosest of terms. Riots, fights, crime, and racial conflicts are continuous throughout the city, which remains alive only because the combined force of its residents has proven useful both in distributing mercenaries and in less legal economic growth, like extortion. Surprisingly, however, the city has absolutely no slavery, gladiator battles, or even legal discrimination, suggesting that some or all of the ruling trifecta has an interest in the city for ideological reason, not just pragmatic ones.</p><p></p><p>Devil City Ulgurtha</p><p></p><p> Of all the cities on Mesion, this one is arguably the most unusual. It was founded right after the Godfield War when Ulrich Bludwright, the vaguely human name taken by the only pit fiend left on Mesion after the war, led an army of devils and other evil outsiders to the previously uninhabited evil-dominated land. He erected the city with supernatural speed and surprised all his neighbors by launching a surprise surrender on them! In other words, he immediately and unconditionally offered the city to all of its neighbors. Said neighbors, who were already in the middle of plans to just invade the place, were suspicious of this plan and none of them were willing to be the first to walk into what they assumed was a trap. A few crusading orders did enter the city, but they soon left when they were welcomed by open arms by the devils and almost were given the keys to the city itself. Since then, the city has been at relative peace with its neighbors, and nobody’s really sure if Ulrich truly wants peace with its neighbors, if it plans on maintaining an image of peace while letting the city’s residents secretly make war on its mortals, or if it’s just biding its time before launching an all-out assault. Certainly, some of its citizens have committed crimes against mortals, but while Ulrich has stopped any investigations of the war crimes of the city’s fiends, he has allowed investigators to catch criminals that have acted since then. This has proven helpful to various demon and devil hunting organizations, but if anything, it has made them even more suspicious about the city’s mysterious king.</p><p></p><p>Altectonis-1</p><p></p><p> Though nowhere near large enough to justify the name of city-state, Altectonis-1 is nonetheless a prosperous city with a population that consists almost entirely of warforged. Given the inherently lawful nature of the warforged, the city not only sprung up quickly, it managed to achieve a very enviable level of stability. Crime is low, though police presence is high to assist in this, and the letter of the law, while not overtly cruel or punishing, it very strict and leaves little room for interpretation. The city is also relatively unfriendly to non-warforged simply because it lacks most of the amenities organic beings need: inns, restaurants, taverns, and even privies are almost nonexistent! Instead, Altectonis-1 makes it money mostly by assisting in hiring out its people as laborers or mercenaries. The warforgeds’ ability to resist many things that could endanger common laborers make them popular in hazardous jobs like mining, though this has earned the city’s people some enmity from normally warforged-tolerant races like the dwarves, who are afraid the constructs might steal their own jobs. The ruling body of Altectonis-1 (a republic) has expressed interest in not expanding the city further to create a new city-state, but instead preferring to create a new city entirely, which will presumably be called Altectonis-2 (Altectonis was a warforged veteran who earned great respect for his actions in the war.)</p><p></p><p>Dromis Prime</p><p></p><p> Actually, the dromites don’t use this naming system for their own cities, but their names for their cities are unpronounceable in normal language, so a common naming system was created for their cities in Common. Dromis Prime isn’t even an especially big city for the dromites, or at least it wasn’t until recently. However, Prime is not only one of the city-hives located closest to the surface, it is conveniently located near a major trade route. As a result, it quickly became popular first as a tourist attraction and later as a convenient place to re-supply and simply rest during expeditions. Once the dromites realized how useful this was in improving their relations with the other races, not to mention their own economy, they poured even more money into expanding the city, making it openly accommodating to any sentient race that is willing to stay there. Some dromites, however, are starting to feel that attempts to commercialize the city have gotten out of hand, and are arguing towards preserving more of the city’s traditions.</p><p></p><p>Scintinorius, The Cove of Colors</p><p></p><p> Much like Dromis Prime, this seemingly minor maenad city gained popularity due to its proximity to established civilization. It was discovered just offshore of the small elven town of Lyria Mein, and it was soon discovered that both Lyria and the maenad city were within the realm of a good-aligned region located mostly on the water. Soon, Lyria became a major shipping city with a special business of transporting visitors to and from the Cove of Colors, which is located inside a massive cave and is only accessible by water. The city got its name from the way sunlight reflected off of the water and then on the largely glassy and gem-laded walls of the cove, creating a very frequent effect similar the aurora borealis right in the middle of the city! However, the maenads were afraid that their city would become a cheap tourist attraction if they over-emphasized the simple visual appeal of their city. Instead, they worked to turn it into a world-renowned center of culture, the arts, and theology, using the good-influenced environment to boost both these purposes and the city’s own ecological properties. So far, it has been successful, but it has a long way to go before obtaining Mesion-wide renown.</p><p></p><p>East and West Xegil</p><p></p><p> These two cities of the xephs are the closest that they come to a capital. Like all xeph cities, their locations at the literal edges of the world make them a rare place for other races to visit, but they have gained some interest due to a unique feature about these cities. Despite the fact that they are almost as far away from each other as possible while still being on Mesion, the cities are apparently linked by a massive psionically generated teleportation circle that fills the far edges of both cities, making both cities into an almost completely connected whole! Besides making travel much easier for cross-Mesion trips (when the xephs let their city be used for that purpose, which is admittedly fairly often,) the sheer power of such a portal has made it the focus of a lot of research. Even the xephs aren’t sure where the portal came from; some think it always existed, and others believe that earlier xephs created the portal but didn’t record the process they used.</p><p></p><p>Primal Mountain</p><p></p><p> Once, Primal Mountain was considered little more than an awe-inspiring natural landmark (as the largest mountain on Mesion,) and a popular destination for pilgrims because of its rumored spiritual properties. This changed when the pilgrims that eventually would become the kalashtar and inspired visited the mountain during the Godfield War. Now, Primal Mountain is an increasingly populous and advanced civilization that could arguably be called a city-state if anyone outside of the inspired culture ever was allowed to visit it and confirm their size. Inspired, however, have a very strict and mercilessly enforced isolationist state that prevents anyone from entering the region. If possible, inspired try to eject nonviolent visitors without killing them. The exceptions to this rule are kalashtar, who the inspired consider traitors and thus kill on sight when within their country. </p><p></p><p>Arcadia/Elysia Crossroad</p><p></p><p> This strange region is located at the last of the known three good-aligned territories. To prevent a major land-grab for what should be a peaceful region, a number of good forces collectively gained control of the land and were able to prevent any further incursions despite the lack of a solid city-state. Instead, the more neutral and chaotic good forces that control the city (including many eladrins and guardinals, and even some angels,) have let the area be decided by the people directly. Ironically, this has made the area very bitterly contested, but in the most polite way possible! The major conflict comes between the Arcadians, who tend to have lawful to neutral alignments and believe in creating a systematic, if not oppressive, society similar to that of modern suburbia. The Elysians believe in a very limited, semi-nomadic existence with little to no public buildings. The two have engaged in most nonviolent but often very bitter struggles about how much of the region should consist of each group’s ideal terrain. The actual ratio has changed constantly, with each group seeking constant support for an increase of their region and yet another change to the region’s name (hence why most people just call it the combined name or just the Crossroad.)</p><p></p><p>The Playground</p><p></p><p> The most important rule of the unsettled territory known as the Playground is that you never, ever call it that while there. The Playground is a relatively fertile but extremely dangerous set of hilly plains that have become controlled entirely by halfling bandits. In fact, the area is so entrenched that many of the bandit leaders have become de facto warlords who fight each other for increased power. Everyone who enters the region is at risk of robbery or worse, but between their playful (if often cruel,) sense of humor and a twisted code of honor, many bandits can be tricked or negotiated with by the cunning.</p><p></p><p>The Splintered Peaks</p><p></p><p> Nobody goes to the Splintered Peaks any more, at least not anybody sane. Though the Splintered Peaks was never inhabited by fiends long enough for it to develop an evil taint, it was the site of many of the Godfield War’s most brutal battles, including one that gave the mountains their names. A particularly strong magical attack ran through the tops of the mountains, causing massive avalanches and leaving cracks in the mountains themselves. Since then, the place has been a breeding ground both for undead, who were apparently created both by fiends to serve as soldiers and from the deaths from the avalanches themselves, and for stranded or resisting demons and other evil outsiders. The mountains’ many cracks have made attacks in the region nearly impossible, while the demons and outsiders can regularly attack nearby towns and foolish travelers. For now, the area has been avoided, but the attacks have been getting more frequent and at more distant targets, suggesting that the forces in the Peaks are getting stronger, or at the very least bolder.</p><p></p><p>Forest of Wrath</p><p></p><p> The Forest of Wrath has had a reputation for being haunted for as long as anyone could remember, and not inaccurately. The Nature’s Wrath, a nightmarish undead whose exact physical form is unknown, has made the forest his home. The Wrath itself lives at the very heart of the forest and rarely ventures out beyond it, but much of the forest is filled with Nature’s Rages that rose due to the proximity to the Nature’s Wrath and other undead created by the Wrath and the Rages. Nonetheless, particularly reckless and stupid hunters sometimes try to hunt in the forest, which usually costs them their lives. One especially obsessed brand of undead hunters that include the Wilderness Devoted even made this part of their rituals; they are required to go into the forest, kill an animal, and wait until it raises as a Nature’s Rage that must then be itself destroyed by the hunter. The only sane reason to go into the Forest of Wrath is to meet its only intelligent non-evil resident known locally as The Eccentric. There are many rumors about her true nature, including theories that she’s responsible for the evil of the forest, that she’s a simple druid or madwoman, or even that she’s a surviving Primal Outsider, but the few reports from those who met her are insufficient to determine exactly.</p><p></p><p>Grim Ward</p><p></p><p> No city can be found in the area known as Grim Ward, but it is an important site nonetheless. Unlike other evil-dominated lands following the Godfield War, no major societies had the chance to develop in Grim Ward, giving various good factions the chance to secure the borders and keep the tainted land uninhabited. However, this has proven to be a grueling and difficult task. In addition to stopping both evil outsiders and power-crazed mortals from entering the region, the area’s guardians have had to fight with nature itself. The area is filled with bizarre, damaging storms, fiend-tainted animals and monsters, bizarre environmental effects, and the seemingly spontaneous generation of even more unnatural monsters. The clerics, paladins, and other noble keepers of the land have to often be rotated due to injuries, deaths, and mental fatigue, and even the ones who get out without physical arm often end up going mad as a result of what they endured.</p><p></p><p>Celina Braye</p><p></p><p> Though it was not a city-state in itself, Celina Braye was once a great nation of the elves that was spread through the entirety of a massive valley. The elves created and maintained massive magical forces in this valley, and as a result it was a frequent target in the Godfield War. Despite this, they were able to repel attacks for years before finally being taken by one side (which side has been lost to history.) They town was immediately assaulted by the other side of the war, but the power of the occupying force coupled with the valley’s defenses proved unbeatable. In desperation, the attacking side decided that if they couldn’t have Celina Braye, no one would. They diverted a series of nearby rivers into the valley, which soon turned it into a flooded ruin. The elves were almost universally killed as a result, and the war moved on, leaving the countless relics of the former nation behind. The valley is a popular target for treasure hunters as a result, but it is also a very dangerous one. Besides the hazards of underwater travel, the valley is plagued with the Sunken, undead monsters apparently created from the elves who were drowned. </p><p></p><p>The Gate of Madness</p><p></p><p> Many dungeons, caverns, and underground societies dot the world underneath Mesion’s surface, but none are as infamous or as feared as the Gate of Madness. Before the Godfield War, the labyrinth that would be called the Gate of Madness was simply famous for its impressive size, as it is the result of many connected natural cave systems, underground dwelling creature’s cities, and ancient burial chambers and catacombs. This massive dungeon was so large that many of the most notable battles of the Godfield War occurred here, though witnesses to said wars are few given the location. Sometime after the Godfield War, however, things changed. The upper layers of the dungeon were more or less normal, though even there strange creatures and incidents were reported. The deeper one goes into the dungeon, however, the stranger things get. Reports from the few who explored the depths of the Gate of Madness and survived claim that insanity itself seems to rule over the dungeon. The laws of common sense, biology, and physics itself are overruled to create a surreal nightmare. Despite the obvious dangers of this place, more and more adventurers are attracted to the wonders the Gate of Madness claim and the hope that the place was warped to create the stuff of the dreams in addition to the stuff of nightmares, or failing that, that at least the massive treasures left behind haven’t been altered significantly.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="LordVyreth, post: 2828872, member: 9626"] [b]Mesion Campaign Details #4[/b] Next up is a quick guide to other major locations on the world of Mesion. There's no guarantee the party will visit all or any of them, but it's a good start in terms of preparation for future adventures. The Toridanir Arcanum The Toridanir Arcanaum is a neutral good city. It is a magocracy run by well-meaning idealists who believe in creating utopia through the use of magic. Artificers are trained here, but the penalties for leaving the nation are minimal, largely because entry into the program is so restrictive that only the most loyal and idealistic members are allowed in the first place. Toridanir is known for its elaborate magic-based programs intended to fix long-term societal problems, though other cities often disagree with the existence of a problem in the first place, let alone their solution to it. Zoridel, The Glorious Eternal Light Zoridel is a lawful good city located on a good-aligned area left over from the Godfield War. The Zoridel administration (named after St. Zoridel of the Heironous faith but also a play on the city name Solar Devotion, which Zoridel has its roots in,) is unusual in its insistence that the Godfield War was a justified battle and that clearly the celestials won, as the world isn’t overrun by evil. Nonetheless, they believe that the ultimate campaign against evil is not over; it just progressed beyond open warfare. The city still supports a number of militant orders whose members maintain order inside and outside the city, much to the frequent annoyance of other nations. Those crusaders, often nicknamed Zores, are potential adversaries of even other good forces. Lirawonowaril Lirawonowaril is the second mage-run city-state. Its leader is a True Neutral sorcerer named Xurim of the Unblinking Eye. He is regarded as incredibly intelligent and a good leaders in general, but he’s also considered crazed. He’s paranoid and obsessed with balance, and his traits got far worse recently after an expedition into the Gate of Madness. He actually may know far more about the truth than nearly everyone, but it’s mixed in with more delusional ideas. His city has a very strict observance of neutrality, and churches dedicated to gods of the four extreme elements are not allowed in the city. Orr Kalen Orr Kalen is the only city-state built on an evil-tainted land. It’s a lawful evil nation, unsurprisingly, and is known for its strong beliefs on the superiority of the old races and even the primitive humanoids over the new and lost races. They practice warforged and shifter slavery, which is not unique among the city states, but they do so far more openly than other nations. In addition, they have a policy of not allowing any kalashtar, dromites, xephs, or maenads into the city, and they execute elans and changelings upon discovery! Stahl Modred Stahl is the only surviving state that existed as a formal nation before the Godfield War. It was originally regarded as a bastion of culture and tolerance, though not necessarily democracy and civil rights. To survive the war, however, its people grew increasingly desperate and they lost many of their most treasured values in an attempt to preserve their civilization. The end result was lawful neutral, mostly benign dictatorship with strong military elements and a people with an almost Spartan level of state and military devotion. While the common citizens have a relative level of rights (though free speech is often curtailed,) individual races are subjected to slavery or overt discrimination, especially the warforged, shifters, elans and changelings. The government itself doesn’t take actions against any races except for elans and changelings, but it lets private businesses engage in their reprehensible actions. Shi Nella Though the elves had a fairly impressive structured society before the Godfield War, the devastation of the war and the elves’ general decision to return to nature destroyed many of those civilizations, leaving only Shi Nella. Shi Nella managed to avoid much of the damage of the war due to both their isolation and magical protections. They have since emerged as a dominant force for elven culture, despite its own internal struggles. The political crises in Shi Nella mostly revolve around battles between the gray and high elves, who are generally progressive and in favor of advanced technology and relations with other city-states, and the wood and wild elves, who are traditional, emphasize the city’s natural properties, and often justify their positions based on their longer history with Shi Nella. Much of Shi Nella’s culture is of vaguely Asian influence. Gilded Darfal-Zezzin Calling this city a fully-recognized city-state is controversial. It only recently increased its population to that near the other city-states, and its unusual government makes it position as a city or state questionable. In many ways, it’s much closer to a massive business! Darfal-Zezzin is co-ruled by dwarves and gnomes and it treated as a plutocracy with the presidents of the Coin Counters Guild and other guilds as the city’s rulers/owners. The city is located inside a mountain and is dedicated almost entirely to Guild business. However, the workings of the corporation have created an even larger number of support businesses, from housing for the workers and providing for their needs and entertainment to a fully functional military dedicated to protecting company interests. Durrackrej (Drej) If Darfal-Zezzin’s claim to city-statehood is a controversy, Duurackrej (or just Drej, as most people call it,) is considered little better than a joke. The nation was formed when an orc chieftain of great power absorbed similarly powerful lizardfolk and gnoll tribes. The latter two were too powerful for him to simply conquer, so he reluctantly agreed to form a new governing trifecta, though he would have the greater authority of the three leaders. The combined force soon created a permanent settlement that attracted other humanoid tribes like a beacon, creating a vaguely stable city that existed contrary to the normally chaotic or at least primitive nature of the uncivilized humanoids. Nonetheless, the city maintains ordered and culture in only the loosest of terms. Riots, fights, crime, and racial conflicts are continuous throughout the city, which remains alive only because the combined force of its residents has proven useful both in distributing mercenaries and in less legal economic growth, like extortion. Surprisingly, however, the city has absolutely no slavery, gladiator battles, or even legal discrimination, suggesting that some or all of the ruling trifecta has an interest in the city for ideological reason, not just pragmatic ones. Devil City Ulgurtha Of all the cities on Mesion, this one is arguably the most unusual. It was founded right after the Godfield War when Ulrich Bludwright, the vaguely human name taken by the only pit fiend left on Mesion after the war, led an army of devils and other evil outsiders to the previously uninhabited evil-dominated land. He erected the city with supernatural speed and surprised all his neighbors by launching a surprise surrender on them! In other words, he immediately and unconditionally offered the city to all of its neighbors. Said neighbors, who were already in the middle of plans to just invade the place, were suspicious of this plan and none of them were willing to be the first to walk into what they assumed was a trap. A few crusading orders did enter the city, but they soon left when they were welcomed by open arms by the devils and almost were given the keys to the city itself. Since then, the city has been at relative peace with its neighbors, and nobody’s really sure if Ulrich truly wants peace with its neighbors, if it plans on maintaining an image of peace while letting the city’s residents secretly make war on its mortals, or if it’s just biding its time before launching an all-out assault. Certainly, some of its citizens have committed crimes against mortals, but while Ulrich has stopped any investigations of the war crimes of the city’s fiends, he has allowed investigators to catch criminals that have acted since then. This has proven helpful to various demon and devil hunting organizations, but if anything, it has made them even more suspicious about the city’s mysterious king. Altectonis-1 Though nowhere near large enough to justify the name of city-state, Altectonis-1 is nonetheless a prosperous city with a population that consists almost entirely of warforged. Given the inherently lawful nature of the warforged, the city not only sprung up quickly, it managed to achieve a very enviable level of stability. Crime is low, though police presence is high to assist in this, and the letter of the law, while not overtly cruel or punishing, it very strict and leaves little room for interpretation. The city is also relatively unfriendly to non-warforged simply because it lacks most of the amenities organic beings need: inns, restaurants, taverns, and even privies are almost nonexistent! Instead, Altectonis-1 makes it money mostly by assisting in hiring out its people as laborers or mercenaries. The warforgeds’ ability to resist many things that could endanger common laborers make them popular in hazardous jobs like mining, though this has earned the city’s people some enmity from normally warforged-tolerant races like the dwarves, who are afraid the constructs might steal their own jobs. The ruling body of Altectonis-1 (a republic) has expressed interest in not expanding the city further to create a new city-state, but instead preferring to create a new city entirely, which will presumably be called Altectonis-2 (Altectonis was a warforged veteran who earned great respect for his actions in the war.) Dromis Prime Actually, the dromites don’t use this naming system for their own cities, but their names for their cities are unpronounceable in normal language, so a common naming system was created for their cities in Common. Dromis Prime isn’t even an especially big city for the dromites, or at least it wasn’t until recently. However, Prime is not only one of the city-hives located closest to the surface, it is conveniently located near a major trade route. As a result, it quickly became popular first as a tourist attraction and later as a convenient place to re-supply and simply rest during expeditions. Once the dromites realized how useful this was in improving their relations with the other races, not to mention their own economy, they poured even more money into expanding the city, making it openly accommodating to any sentient race that is willing to stay there. Some dromites, however, are starting to feel that attempts to commercialize the city have gotten out of hand, and are arguing towards preserving more of the city’s traditions. Scintinorius, The Cove of Colors Much like Dromis Prime, this seemingly minor maenad city gained popularity due to its proximity to established civilization. It was discovered just offshore of the small elven town of Lyria Mein, and it was soon discovered that both Lyria and the maenad city were within the realm of a good-aligned region located mostly on the water. Soon, Lyria became a major shipping city with a special business of transporting visitors to and from the Cove of Colors, which is located inside a massive cave and is only accessible by water. The city got its name from the way sunlight reflected off of the water and then on the largely glassy and gem-laded walls of the cove, creating a very frequent effect similar the aurora borealis right in the middle of the city! However, the maenads were afraid that their city would become a cheap tourist attraction if they over-emphasized the simple visual appeal of their city. Instead, they worked to turn it into a world-renowned center of culture, the arts, and theology, using the good-influenced environment to boost both these purposes and the city’s own ecological properties. So far, it has been successful, but it has a long way to go before obtaining Mesion-wide renown. East and West Xegil These two cities of the xephs are the closest that they come to a capital. Like all xeph cities, their locations at the literal edges of the world make them a rare place for other races to visit, but they have gained some interest due to a unique feature about these cities. Despite the fact that they are almost as far away from each other as possible while still being on Mesion, the cities are apparently linked by a massive psionically generated teleportation circle that fills the far edges of both cities, making both cities into an almost completely connected whole! Besides making travel much easier for cross-Mesion trips (when the xephs let their city be used for that purpose, which is admittedly fairly often,) the sheer power of such a portal has made it the focus of a lot of research. Even the xephs aren’t sure where the portal came from; some think it always existed, and others believe that earlier xephs created the portal but didn’t record the process they used. Primal Mountain Once, Primal Mountain was considered little more than an awe-inspiring natural landmark (as the largest mountain on Mesion,) and a popular destination for pilgrims because of its rumored spiritual properties. This changed when the pilgrims that eventually would become the kalashtar and inspired visited the mountain during the Godfield War. Now, Primal Mountain is an increasingly populous and advanced civilization that could arguably be called a city-state if anyone outside of the inspired culture ever was allowed to visit it and confirm their size. Inspired, however, have a very strict and mercilessly enforced isolationist state that prevents anyone from entering the region. If possible, inspired try to eject nonviolent visitors without killing them. The exceptions to this rule are kalashtar, who the inspired consider traitors and thus kill on sight when within their country. Arcadia/Elysia Crossroad This strange region is located at the last of the known three good-aligned territories. To prevent a major land-grab for what should be a peaceful region, a number of good forces collectively gained control of the land and were able to prevent any further incursions despite the lack of a solid city-state. Instead, the more neutral and chaotic good forces that control the city (including many eladrins and guardinals, and even some angels,) have let the area be decided by the people directly. Ironically, this has made the area very bitterly contested, but in the most polite way possible! The major conflict comes between the Arcadians, who tend to have lawful to neutral alignments and believe in creating a systematic, if not oppressive, society similar to that of modern suburbia. The Elysians believe in a very limited, semi-nomadic existence with little to no public buildings. The two have engaged in most nonviolent but often very bitter struggles about how much of the region should consist of each group’s ideal terrain. The actual ratio has changed constantly, with each group seeking constant support for an increase of their region and yet another change to the region’s name (hence why most people just call it the combined name or just the Crossroad.) The Playground The most important rule of the unsettled territory known as the Playground is that you never, ever call it that while there. The Playground is a relatively fertile but extremely dangerous set of hilly plains that have become controlled entirely by halfling bandits. In fact, the area is so entrenched that many of the bandit leaders have become de facto warlords who fight each other for increased power. Everyone who enters the region is at risk of robbery or worse, but between their playful (if often cruel,) sense of humor and a twisted code of honor, many bandits can be tricked or negotiated with by the cunning. The Splintered Peaks Nobody goes to the Splintered Peaks any more, at least not anybody sane. Though the Splintered Peaks was never inhabited by fiends long enough for it to develop an evil taint, it was the site of many of the Godfield War’s most brutal battles, including one that gave the mountains their names. A particularly strong magical attack ran through the tops of the mountains, causing massive avalanches and leaving cracks in the mountains themselves. Since then, the place has been a breeding ground both for undead, who were apparently created both by fiends to serve as soldiers and from the deaths from the avalanches themselves, and for stranded or resisting demons and other evil outsiders. The mountains’ many cracks have made attacks in the region nearly impossible, while the demons and outsiders can regularly attack nearby towns and foolish travelers. For now, the area has been avoided, but the attacks have been getting more frequent and at more distant targets, suggesting that the forces in the Peaks are getting stronger, or at the very least bolder. Forest of Wrath The Forest of Wrath has had a reputation for being haunted for as long as anyone could remember, and not inaccurately. The Nature’s Wrath, a nightmarish undead whose exact physical form is unknown, has made the forest his home. The Wrath itself lives at the very heart of the forest and rarely ventures out beyond it, but much of the forest is filled with Nature’s Rages that rose due to the proximity to the Nature’s Wrath and other undead created by the Wrath and the Rages. Nonetheless, particularly reckless and stupid hunters sometimes try to hunt in the forest, which usually costs them their lives. One especially obsessed brand of undead hunters that include the Wilderness Devoted even made this part of their rituals; they are required to go into the forest, kill an animal, and wait until it raises as a Nature’s Rage that must then be itself destroyed by the hunter. The only sane reason to go into the Forest of Wrath is to meet its only intelligent non-evil resident known locally as The Eccentric. There are many rumors about her true nature, including theories that she’s responsible for the evil of the forest, that she’s a simple druid or madwoman, or even that she’s a surviving Primal Outsider, but the few reports from those who met her are insufficient to determine exactly. Grim Ward No city can be found in the area known as Grim Ward, but it is an important site nonetheless. Unlike other evil-dominated lands following the Godfield War, no major societies had the chance to develop in Grim Ward, giving various good factions the chance to secure the borders and keep the tainted land uninhabited. However, this has proven to be a grueling and difficult task. In addition to stopping both evil outsiders and power-crazed mortals from entering the region, the area’s guardians have had to fight with nature itself. The area is filled with bizarre, damaging storms, fiend-tainted animals and monsters, bizarre environmental effects, and the seemingly spontaneous generation of even more unnatural monsters. The clerics, paladins, and other noble keepers of the land have to often be rotated due to injuries, deaths, and mental fatigue, and even the ones who get out without physical arm often end up going mad as a result of what they endured. Celina Braye Though it was not a city-state in itself, Celina Braye was once a great nation of the elves that was spread through the entirety of a massive valley. The elves created and maintained massive magical forces in this valley, and as a result it was a frequent target in the Godfield War. Despite this, they were able to repel attacks for years before finally being taken by one side (which side has been lost to history.) They town was immediately assaulted by the other side of the war, but the power of the occupying force coupled with the valley’s defenses proved unbeatable. In desperation, the attacking side decided that if they couldn’t have Celina Braye, no one would. They diverted a series of nearby rivers into the valley, which soon turned it into a flooded ruin. The elves were almost universally killed as a result, and the war moved on, leaving the countless relics of the former nation behind. The valley is a popular target for treasure hunters as a result, but it is also a very dangerous one. Besides the hazards of underwater travel, the valley is plagued with the Sunken, undead monsters apparently created from the elves who were drowned. The Gate of Madness Many dungeons, caverns, and underground societies dot the world underneath Mesion’s surface, but none are as infamous or as feared as the Gate of Madness. Before the Godfield War, the labyrinth that would be called the Gate of Madness was simply famous for its impressive size, as it is the result of many connected natural cave systems, underground dwelling creature’s cities, and ancient burial chambers and catacombs. This massive dungeon was so large that many of the most notable battles of the Godfield War occurred here, though witnesses to said wars are few given the location. Sometime after the Godfield War, however, things changed. The upper layers of the dungeon were more or less normal, though even there strange creatures and incidents were reported. The deeper one goes into the dungeon, however, the stranger things get. Reports from the few who explored the depths of the Gate of Madness and survived claim that insanity itself seems to rule over the dungeon. The laws of common sense, biology, and physics itself are overruled to create a surreal nightmare. Despite the obvious dangers of this place, more and more adventurers are attracted to the wonders the Gate of Madness claim and the hope that the place was warped to create the stuff of the dreams in addition to the stuff of nightmares, or failing that, that at least the massive treasures left behind haven’t been altered significantly. [/QUOTE]
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