Rystil Arden
First Post
Update pages 16-20 + my edits for grammar and spelling mistakes (I'm sure I missed most fo them, but I did catch a few)-
Politics:
Zhal is the most fierce and oppressive Pillar, ruling their lands with an iron fist and causing much dissent amongst the dwarves and other peasants, thus why the Jagged Eye is largely based in Zhalccu province. House Zhal produces many of the finest soldiers in the Legions, proud and skilled, tightly adherant to the military line of command, but also ruthless and fond of old orcish ways. Warriors of Pillar Zhal tattoo themselves with an orcish symbol after each successful battle, somewhere open like the arm or forehead, where other warriors can see how successful the warrior has been. Zhal warriors drink a few drops of their foes' blood after each victory, an old orcish tradition that no one really understands the reason behind anymore.
Other than the Grand Monarch, the greatest political power in all of Eyros is the Imperial Senate. The modern structure of the Imperial Senate was established by Agathon of the Crimson Robe after the War of the Crumbled Pillar. Only pure blood Humans and Orcs, first generation Half-Orcs, and Gnomes may be Senators. Inspired by the degrees of a circle, the Imperial Senate has 360 members. The seats are divided in this manner:
23 dal-Vajar Orcs
12 dal-Vajar ty-Malarn Half-Orcs
12 dal-Vajar ty-Kiron Half-Orcs
12 dal-Vajar ty-Mulcibe Half-Orcs
23 dal-Zhal Orcs
12 dal-Zhal ty-Malarn Half-Orcs
12 dal-Zhal ty-Kiron Half-Orcs
12 dal-Zhal ty-Mulcibe Half-Orcs
23 dal-Taljik Orcs
12 dal-Taljik ty-Malarn Half-Orcs
12 dal-Taljik ty-Kiron Half-Orcs
12 dal-Taljik ty-Mulcibe Half-Orcs
23 dal-Malarn Humans
12 dal-Malarn ty-Vajar Half-Orcs
12 dal-Malarn ty-Zhal Half-Orcs
12 dal-Malarn ty-Taljik Half-Orcs
23 dal-Kiron Humans
12 dal-Kiron ty-Vajar Half-Orcs
12 dal-Kiron ty-Zhal Half-Orcs
12 dal-Kiron ty-Taljik Half-Orcs
23 dal-Mulcibe Humans
12 dal-Mulcibe ty-Vajar Half-Orcs
12 dal-Mulcibe ty-Zhal Half-Orcs
12 dal-Mulcibe ty-Taljik Half-Orcs
6 Praes Thanatos Gnomes
Eyrian half-orcs of second generation birth or later fill many of the lesser aristocratic roles in the bureaucracy of Eyros, and fill up a fair number of the lesser military officer positions. First-generation half-orcs who don't gain the throne instead fill many of the upper-echelon positions in the Legions and the aristocracy, some becoming magistrates, prefects, consuls, chancellors, or provincial governers, others becoming centurions, legates, and magnates. First-generation half-orcs are also frequent ambassadors and household managers. Other half-orcs are unfortunately incapable of receiving much inheritance, and many seek fortune or glory for themselves by training in the Claws of the Dragon style and competing in the tournaments, while others seek answers through the philosophy of the Dragon's Way. However, the best avenue for second-generation half-orcs and their descendants is to join the clergy of the Draconic Legacy or the Children of the Dawn, though a few find their way instead to the Animus cult. Many half-orcs cannot, as the clergy can only take in so many, and instead become adventurers, or join the half-orc barbarians outside of Eyros' society to join their cast-off kindred.
House Taljik is known for its competitive attitude, perhaps because of its lesser status. Taljik members are avid game fans, many enjoying gladiatorial combat and duels, but some preferring quieter games of thought and strategy like Zhakkar or Talyin, the latter of which is an interesting and complicated game that was "discovered" recently by a scion of House Taljik who claims that is was originally invented by Talya to strengthen the minds of her children to help ward off The Twelve's influence.
The senate could be considered the legislative body of the Dominion of Eyros, but there is no constitution detailing a rigid government system. In normal times, the senate passes the laws, serves as a meeting ground of the Pillars, authorizes the grand monarch to go to war and decides about the imperial household. Senators are nominally free to vote as they wish but the pillar doesn´t take kindly to senators who don´t do as they wish. As pureblooded senators can be called back within three months time, a wise senator does as told. Half-orcs can only be recalled if both pillars agree. But there is an unspoken agreement that half-orcs are considered to be affiliated with the -dal Pillar. if the -dal Pillar decides to withdraw a senator, the other one normally agrees. A half-orc can only be withdrawn after the year has passed. The Grand Monarch is in charge of all the day to day politics and is able to veto laws if not passed by 2/3 of the senate. There are also other privileges and powers who were granted or taken away depending on the grand monarch currently in the seat of power. He is also considered to be a senator of the appropriate house constellation and the supreme commander of all legions. The grand monarch cannot be withdrawn by the pillars. The Grand Monarch is also the moderator in house conflicts if the Senate isn´t able to solve the issue. If 1/2 of the Senate is unable to attend the sessions, all debates are postponed until the required number of senators are available. As senators often challenge each other, it happens more often as one might believe. Most Grand Monarchs who were able to rule as dictators were able to control the military and disbanded the senate or just got hold of many senators. Especially the half-orc descendants of the houses are prone to abandon their former allegiances and are often challenged by faithful members of their -dal pillar to remove them from important sessions.
Before Agathon´s reforms, some houses could get hold of rulership when the grand monarch was a member of their House, using political dominance in the Senate and the position of the monarch to gain the sole rulership. During the reign of the last two monarchs the system has reached a stable position. The pillars accept most of the monarch´s wishes and the monarch takes care to considerate all Houses wishes. There is a good deal of political wrangling in the Senate however and alliances are shifting all the time. In this time senators who are master duelists are in high demand and everyone is polishing his combat skills or his rhetorics. As fights in the Senate are increasingly common, the Grand Monarch friendly suggested that the fights should be fists only when fighting within the chamber, otherwise there wouldn´t be enough priests to attend to the wounds of the fighters or senators to attend to the sessions next week.
Emperor Ezlan managed to gain hold of the privilege to appoint the imperial judges, got a higher number of masks and so on.
His predecessor managed to form an alliance with the Praes Thanatos, who use their huge influence and privileges on behalf of the Grand Monarch. On the other side the Grand Monarch backs up the Praes Thanatos in their political endeavours. The Patriae Sicarii are happy to work withhin this stable alliance especially after having to work with an unstable alliance of houses in the Senate beforehand.
Culture:
Long ago the Kohl'Tass taught a group of Eyrians the Discipline of Nature's Grasp, the unarmed fighting style long practiced by Kohl'Tass since they are oathbound to wield no weapons in their homeland. The Discipline emphasizes grappling and throws, as well as hand strikes, but the lizardfolk couldn't teach their human and orc disciples the claw, tail, and bite techniques. This fighting art and its introspective philosophy spread gradually in Eyros and was quickly adapted to different forms as the students became teachers, and a few small schools of the resultant martial arts have been built in various cities and towns across Eyros. The Eyrians altered the philosophy nearly as much as the fighting style, and now call it the Dragon's Way, but each school teaches its personal variation of the style and philosophy, so for instance the school in lower Eyrdeyn teaches Dragon's Way of the Bold Fist. Exercises and disciplines taught by the Dragon's Way, not to mention self-defense skills, are popular amongst the peasantry and some nobles, but teaching the art to dwarves or elves is forbidden in Eyros.
Over the centuries, the Orcs traditions in Eyros have been distinctly watered down, and rebuilt to suite the sensibilities of all the races. While Orc dominance maintains Orc values as important, many cultural traditions have been lost. The ancient shamanic traditions of the Orc people have largely been lost.
Some of this, most notably the Blood-Oath Magic, survives today in the Society of the Iron Arm, an association of Orc and Half-Orc metal-workers. The Iron Arm idolizes the primal Orc lifestyle, but are simultaneously amongst the most educated of common Orcish folk. While they are present in Mhur, they don't share the values of that city. Most members of the Society are scattered individuals across the countryside. Blood-Oath Magic involves personal blood sacrifice as a trade to the spirits that help in battle or for more general survival of self and tribe. In the Iron Arm, it manifests in the creation of some exceptional weapons and armor. This equipment is never made by commission, but always for a specific purpose of the smith or his brothers in the society. It is made in an all night ritual involving rhythmic drums and the spilling of the veings into the liquid metal. The Blood-Smiths would have everyone believe that this ritual allows them to make anything in a single night, but it is actually just the opening day's activity of normal item crafting. On the last day is a more meditative night ritual, in which more blood is painted on the equipment in swirling patterns of war. Somehow, as part of this ritual the equipment is tainted ever so slightly with red. Something about this coloration, or maybe something less definable, unnerves those who face against such weapons and armor in battle.
Magic on Eyros is a relatively vibrant art, with theoretical journals and practical advancement. Some recent examples: For thousands of years, it was believed that only spells of the sixth veil or higher could produce a geas effect (Valjin's Exaction being the spell). Recently, Herewald developed a lesser but simpler form, Herewald's Requirement, of the fourth veil. In his waking hours, the somewhat-unstable Mask Kaillo developed Kaillo's Transformation, which could make the elven mage a dangerous melee combatant, a strange mirror to his subconscious transformation into a dangerous opponent of the state. Kalis Ny'Dal-Malarn (while still a historian of house Malarn) created Kalis's Mnemonic Enhancer. Always inquisitive, Kalis is well read in contemporary magical theory and was able to create this spell which requires a large amount of theory to understand, and thus was not even possible until recently.
Eyrian nobles are proud of their lineages and the deeds of their ancestors, as seen in worship of family gods, claim to a common ancestor with in the family and the long names indicating ancestry. Children often learn the names of their ancestors, as far as known. Despite this, emotional connections between parents and their children are not so tight as an otside observer would expect. The pillars encourage their members to develop thier ties more to the House as a whole or their branch of the house instead of their own core family. Noble children are often watched over by tutors and servants, as their parents are busy attending to political, military or economic matters. The local family branch grants young adults some income and holdings who belong to the House for their lifetime. Over time both increase as the noble comes into age and is able to gather influence. This can become a large part of the noble´s belongings. Of course the noble has to pay for the lease. After his death the house´s belongings return to the house again. The noble can pass on some of his personal wealth to his children but a large part of the other valuta are expected to return to the house as well. Nobles who enriched their houses greatly are praised by their peers and givan a lavish funeral. The ones who disappointed their house are given a small funeral only, a mark of shame for their children.
Noble half-orcs of the first generation are encouraged to pass on a larger share of their wealth to thir second generation children. As these children are not members of a pillar anymore, this is their compensation. They are expected to start their own households and are considered to be formally independent of their House. Nevertheless, most of these new households are strongly tied to one pillar, most often one that one of their ancestors belonged to. These minor nobles often applicate for lesser positions in the provinces of their patron pillar or gather holdings of their own in the province. Many are also entering clerical offices, lower military ranks or become tournament fighters (see post 659). Half-Orcs are allowed to marry orcs or humans. Most often the house concentrates to arrange marriages with members of one race. After seven generations their offspring are considered to be purebloods again. These members of an half-orc house can then enter one of the houses, thier ancestors claimed allegiance to. The senate passed this law after realizing that most members of both races have some trace of the other race in their ancestry after living together for 3000 years. Even keeping track of their ancestries was not sufficient as non nobles are allowed to marry into noble houses as well on a regular basis. These commoners often didn´t keep track of their bloodline or hid the fact the fact that their blood was not as pure as it seems.
Among the taverns, inns, and other gathering places of Eyros, games of dice are popular. Regular attendees of taverns will often play several games together, and establish a ranking system. Often, these local champions will challenge each other, in search of new tests for their skill. And of course, money, from bets placed on the fall of the dice, and also the stakes that are played for. Those who are found cheating are often assaulted, thrown out of the location, and made unwelcome to return. As an aside, someone might want to come up with some sort of qualifying system. These new gladiators probably wouldn't be able to just show up, without proving themselves somehow. Else they'd go up against the champ, die, and that's not entertainment.
History:
The lost house of Garren:
The lost house of Garren controlled most of the coastal waters near Ghalfaen, Malarn-ka and some inner territories as their lands were spread out all over Eyros. Malarn-ka was named Garran-ka at this time and was the houses seat of power. Garren controlled most of the sea trade and the position of Grand Admiral of the Navy was traditionally held by members of house Garren. The other pillars were envious of the house´s wealth. After the spectacular defeat at the battle of New Haven, the house fell on hard times, as they lost much of their revenue to halfling pirates and beared the shame of losing to mere halflings. Much of their resources afterwards were to develop better ocean going vessels, superior to the galley who could only stay near the coastline safely. As the empire itself pretty much abandoned the navy after the defeat, house Garren was the only house that invested in naval affairs. This put a big strain on the house´s treasury.
During the war, house Garren destroyed the former city of Malarn-ka utterly and put the whole population to the sword and salted the fields. Some poeple claim that the house made a pact with Cururultar, who granted them aid in exchange for the massacre.
The house got annihilated by house malarn and their allies for this atrocity.
After the war, the new house didn´t want to have any connection to the old house and kept their branch name of Taljik. Garran-ka was given over to house Malarn as compensation for the lost city. Some other holdings of house Garren were distributed among the other houses, Taljik got some new territories to form a coherent province instead of the diestributed holdings their predecessors had. The most precious jewel of Garren land was the city of Mhur. As the houses were unable to agree, Agathinon decreed that Mhur was to be a free city, only answerable to the emperor.
During the war of the broken pillar, members of House Malarn feared for the destruction of their library. As it was clear that the first Malarn-Ka was a possible target for a siege and fearing that conquerors or civil unrest would threaten the books, librarians and scholars of House Malarn packed up the majority of the library in secret and deposited it in a secret redoubt in a mountain valley. The conquerors of the fallen Malarn-ka looted the library and brought everything they could find to Garran-ka. After the war, House Malarn founded the city of Jhazed´Khal at the site of the secret redoubt, that became the main building of the new library. Jhazed´Khal means "House of many words" in ancient orcish.
Every pillar later swore oaths on their family gods that never should Jhazed´Khal, keeper of Eyrian history, be threatened by their house, as long as it will be a city of knowledge and scholars and not a city of war. In keeping the spirit of this oath, there is only a smaller imperial garrison in the city. The defenses are in the hand of the imperial masks and the Praes Thanatos who have a large library themselves in the city. the Praes Thanatos only show a small contingent but a large troop of undead has been squeezed in tightly in excavated underground caverns below the necromancer´s library. Many scholars are upset that House Malarn restricts access to the library. They think it violates the spirit of the oath. They point out that the oath was certainly meant that the library should be a center of learning for everyone.
Zhalgar the Merciless was a great war hero of the Eyrian invasion of 41 BE. Known for his psychological warfare, he put to the torch entire cities of non-combatants when their local garrisons refused to surrender, thus encouraging fear and acceptance among the resisting elves. With his elite all-orcish army, (there were several large armies working in tandem to conquer Valjaria, it was with numbers that the orcs and humans defeated the mighty elven empire) Zhalgar swept a 360-degree-arc around the periphery of Valjaria, farthest from the capital, where the Imperial army would have the hardest time defending, subjecting the local garrisons to surrender and forcing all the elves to choose between becoming slaves or being destroyed. Zhalgar was the ancestor of House Zhal, and even now they hold their lands from those which Zhalgar conquered.
House Taljik has only a tenuous claim to a legendary ancestor compared to the other Pillars. In this case, they are descendant of the second marriage of Talya, the wife of the martyr Garryx, who died resisting the call of the Twelve against the orcs (House Garren descended from Garryx). Although most histories claim that Talya was mind-controlled like many other orcs and it was she who betrayed Garryx to his enemies, thus earning the position of favoured concubine to the new orc leader under the Twelve, Garryx's brother Kalzan, some of the more creative scholars hired by House Taljik claim that Talya fought to protect Garryx along with Kalzan, and that Talya and Kalzan escaped and worked to free the orcs afterwards.
Religion:
There is an older faith in Nistadeen which is quietly included today as just another cultural tradition. This was the shared faith with the country that came to be dominated by necromancers and known as Valjaria. It centers around the worship of certain sacred trees. Groves of these trees are found in most cities of Nistadeen, and the sage-mystics who look after them have enormous powers in working with plants. Many holy days now appropriated by the Corythos faith coincide with days when these gardeners enact certain ancient rituals that were said to make the Elven land pleasant, fertile, and safe. Once, these were called the Sacred Gardeners, but such formal recognitions were stripped with the Realization of Corythos. Still these gardeners are very popular to advice-seekers on many matters, and when a group of three or more gardeners wants to speak to anyone in the Elven realm, they do so. It is not a good idea to avoid this audience.
Myths and Legends:
"Religion is the folly of weak minds" Duroghar growled his eyes blaizing white with power. The dwarf was bald and his face marked with ritual tatoo confirming his status as an Elder of the Jagged Eye "it is a deception designed to keep They-who-are-deceived blind to the Truth of this world.
"The Jagged Eye teaches us to see the Unity of Mind and Spirit. The physical world is a deception wrought by the demon Taufenacht and into which weak minds are bound. In the beginning Mind and Spirit were one and all things were unified and without limitations. As Eons past the Four Seasons took form and in each their were minds distinct and yet unified and we were there amongst them
The greatest of minds took form becoming th First Ones and Taufenacht was amongst their number as were Maia and those which are called Dragons. It was Taufenacht who made the first bid for power, deceiving us all and imposing limitations as he created the deception which is this world.
It is through mastery of Mind and Soul that we transcend the limitations of Taufenachts deception and return to our original nature. Taufenacht can not abide this and so They-who-are-decieved, the orcs and humans and all others condemn us and cast us low. But not for long for soon we shall be Unified..."
Other Races:
A gang of Halfling raiders are working on taming and training sea creatures and raiders to ride those creatures, to make them more manuverable and deadly. If only they could find a way to solve that pesky "need to breathe while underwater" problem.
One of the Oaths that many elven Masks are sworn to is the Enforcer Oath. Masks sworn to this Oath are sent to occupied territories where Eyros holds mostly token control but nonetheless conquered already. Enforcer Masks are kept in 12-person phalanxes where they learn to work as a unit and protect eachother from hostile conquered peoples. They take up posts in the occupied realms and police them, memorizing Eyrian laws and enforcing them upon the newly-subjugated populace. Enforcer Masks are controlled through a much more powerful version of the other well-known Oaths, one that extends beyond Eyros' normal range of control, but requires somewhat expensive components, significant time to activate, and potent enchanters to cast. Nonetheless Enforcer Masks are the most numerous, numbering at 1,800, as the Sovereignty tries to maintain a solid grasp on the nations it conquers. Enforcer Masks currently occupy many of the lands most recently taken from Ghalfaen, Nistadeen, Indracca, and Saagersberg in the past thousand years or so. They are also often sent to range outside the borders and scout out barbarian lands or Kwlloch to keep the Dominion informed. Many die on these scoutings. Enforcer Masks are also often used for sailing missions to try and find new territories or fight off pirates, but the poor naval skills of most Eyrians generally leads these expeditions to disaster.
Unfortunately, the same powerful enchantments that control the minds of Enforcer Masks also impedes their own magical abilities, as the enchantments must keep the Enforcer Masks from gaining too much mental power else they gradually grow beyond the control, during their long stay outside the controlling aura of Eyros. Consequently, these potent enchantments wear upon the mind and sanity of Enforcer Masks as they grow older and more powerful, so Enforcer Masks never reach any significant heights of personal power before their psyche cracks under the stress, and they usually end up commiting suicide or simply being executed for radical behavior. Enforcer Masks typically live a few hundred years before dying of this madness, and the Praes Thanatos has yet to find a solution to the degrading effects of these potent, long-range enchantments......but maybe they don't want a solution found.....
It is part of the ancient magical heritage of the Elven people that most, with a spark of potential and the proper training, can be decent at magic. Few choose to walk this path. Because the Praes Thanatos finds it essential to tie up all Elven spellcasters, they carefully test all Elven children by there 40th year. Out of those children with the potential to work magic particularly well are selected replacement Masks, and additional Masks as ordered by the senate in a vote held at the beginning of every century. This vote usually comes to eight, increasing the number of Masks for every Pillar, the Grand Monarch, and the Guardian Masks by one. The Praes Thanatos push to keep the numbers within reason, concerned that too much magical power should be outside their direct control- even given the amount of control they have over the Masks as a whole. Those Elven children with some spellcasting potential but not selected to be Masked have their arcane potential sealed within them. Early experiments in simply burning it out resulted in a cancerous sickness that caused unrest amongst the Elven populace and was emotionally traumatic to the Masks. The Arcaneum, among its other duties, is reponsible for teaching the young Elves selected for Maskhood the disciplines of proper education and log, the beginning theories of magic, the glories of the Empire, and the importance of Oaths. They swear the Oaths at the age of fifty, at which point they are not allowed to see their family again for at least 30 more years, if not forever. They then begin their training, serving as an apprentice under another Mask, an appointed teacher of the Arcaneum, and overseen discretely by a member of the Praes Thanatos.
Climate and Geography
For those living around the high mountain tops, one of the constant dangers is of lightning storms, which can last for several hours, with lightning striking once every minute or two. Some scholars have theorized that this is from the static being built up from friction between clouds and mountain, but nobody knows for sure.
Other Nations
New Haven controls a rocky island some 40 miles by 20. It is an open port- it does not look too closely at ships that journey to them, nor does it charge a fee for docking out in the boonies. As a result, New Haven has a certain lawless vibe, as Halfling Pirates, Human Smugglers, and spies of all nations use the city as a safe port and meeting place. Despite it being halfling owned, everyone except Eyros views it as the closest thing to neutral ground. The New Haven Vault is the closest thing to a bank on the island. They control a cluster of maze-like sea caves, and they hold and guard the wealth or property of anyone that pays the fee. They are also money-lenders with stiff interest rates for non-halflings.
The appealing Mo'ahhi warrior-women, with their revealing bone half-armour, are the subject of many stories told in hushed whispers by young men in Eyros. They say that the Mo'ahhi are only women because they kill the man after mating with him, sharing the flesh of his heart with their Imha'oa (a close-knit group of seven Mo'ahhi, none of which is related by blood what who regard each other as closer than sisters), tearing his sinews and ligaments from the corpse to make their whips and taking his bones to make their armour. The Mo'ahhi are very protective of their whips and armour, known to ruthless slay any opponent who damages them, lending credence to the belief that the warrior-women consider themselves in a marriage relationship with their arms and armour. Although Eyrian women who hear of these things are repulsed by the barbarity, the rumours only tend to make the young men more fascinated with the Mo'ahhi.
Far to the southwest, lies one of the only great kingdoms that Eyros has not succeeded in conquering--Xaleris, the so-called Old Empire. This reclusive nation of humans is infamous for its sorcery, and death-worshiping priests. The Xal, as they are called, are ruled by the so-called Immortal Emperors, who, after 25 years of rule, "ascend" to lichhood, where they serve as "advisors" to their successors. The relationship between the two nations is one of icy peace, as while the Dominion has never had the power to conquer Xaleris, neither have the Xal had the power to take the fight to the half-bloods. The Xal's state religion is monotheistic, claiming the world to be the creation of a diety they call "The Mother" who encompasses both good and evil, life and death. Xal's worship all aspects of the Mother, but hold her aspects as "Divine Death" and "Divinie Destroyer" highest.
The people of Saagersberg worship Conquers Twice because they believe that he is the ultimate manifestation of the spirits of good. They believe that good and evil spirits, mainly incorporeal, float around the world and cause joyous events and maladies. As such, they consider incorporeal undead to be evil spirits. The people of Saagerberg have developed techniques to commune with the good spirits and exorcise the wicked ones.
FAR to the west, across the ocean lays another continent. This contient is called Crandora, and is home to a egalitarian society, with free elves, and a thriving dwarven culture, as major differences between it and Eyros. The only nation that contact has been made with is along the north eastern coast, and calls itself Instram. It was only recently that Eyrian explorers made contact, so trade and diplomatic ties are still being hammered out.
NPCs:
Gor'Spak, a 5th generation half-orc of the barbarian half-orc movement, has taken a small contingent of the half-orcs to the Blue Mountains. He is a sorceror of growing power and plans to take some of the wild riding lizards that the Eyrian calvary employs and magically alter them so that they can fly. He has grand plans of fielding a half-orc army of aerial calvary that will throw down the human and orc pillars and replace them with the truly noble half-orcs. So far, his attempts have only met with failure.
A leading member of the barbaric Half-Orcs, the oversized Thazdan the Subtle, has conceived of an idea to teach their Half-Orc forbears a lesson by killing their children in the guise of angry ancestor spirits. Only two others of the Orcs think this trick is worth trying. They've begun by practicing at random in smaller towns in the countryside for the last couple months, and are now ready to begin in the capitol city itself.
A trio of foreign gladiators has recently arrived in Eyrdeyn to compete in the Eyrdeyn Grand Coliseum's MCCLXVII (1,267th) Annual Games, to be held midway through the coming autumn. The trio, calling themselves Lux Ex Oriente, "Light from the East," and have earned significant popularity with the crowds in arenas from Zhalccu to Eyrdeyn. These gladiators are also great athletes that intend to compete in other parts of the Games as well as the gladiatorial competition. Kal'aj'ash'nee intends to enter the decathlon, Ikaido the marathon, and D'achao'himat'echet the mounted race.
The apparent leader of Lux Ex Oriente is Kal'aj'ash'nee, a stunning warrior-woman from distant Mo'ahhim, nearly ebon of skin with long, many-braided black hair, she seems to be the only one of the trio who speaks Vulgar Eyrosian; the others only speak their native tongues and Mo'ahhim. Kal'aj'ash'nee wears piecemeal bone-and-leather armor in the apparently-Mo'ahhi-common style, revealing but mildly functional and easy to move in. Like others of her kind she wields a whip-dagger (ginta as the Mo'ahhi call it), with a blade made of sharpened bone and etched with crude symbols. Kal'aj the Ebon (as the crowds know her) is well-muscled but particularly lithe and seems to constantly surprise her opponents with the speed and accuracy of her ginta. Her Mo'ahhi fighting style is dancelike and appealing, but deadly to foes with the spinning whip-dagger. She is manipulative and cunning, but does not speak often, and has a hardness in her looks. The Mo'ahhi's accompanying foreign allies, though they often seem at odds, are Motoushi Ikaido of Nientei, and D'achao'himat'echet Uramao'tetcatlan of O'hoa'ti'neumas.
Ikaido the Azure (as the crowds know him) is a somewhat short, olive-skinned Nientese man of middling age and wizened appearance, with two long, thin mustaches and black hair tied back in a topknot. He wears a dark blue headband with a sunrise-behind-a-mountain stitching over the forehead, and his blue-lacquered leather lamellar has a very foreign look to it, and doesn't seem to lessen his incredible speed or agility. Ikaido carries a curved bastard sword and similar shortsword, at the left side of his belt in artistic sheathes, and the blades themselves are lightly engraved with colored patterns. He speaks frequently to Kel'aj in her language Mo'ahhim, seemingly displeased regarding others but mindful of angering Kel'aj with too much of his complaining, and Ikaido never seems to address D'achao directly. Ikaido at least seems willing to talk to arena fans with Kal'aj translating, and seems to convey only compliments and polite gratitude to his fans, though some see that he simply hides his contempt well. The sword-dancer fights with a fast-paced two-sword style emphasizing brutally fast and deceptive offense over defense, but is quite agile on the defense as well, though not as skilled at it.
D'achao the Bronze (as the crowds know him) is an O'hoa'ti bloodspell zealot, whose savage knife-fighting style and self-mutilation, not to mention copper dagger and wicker armor, speak volumes about his people's culture. From the hardly-known O'hoa'ti'neumas hordelands of the far, far east, D'achao'himat'echet is a towering reddish-bronze man of great muscle and little finesse. Though perhaps ruggedly handsome, D'achao's body is scarred in many places and apparently each scar is either from a battle-wound or self-inflicted as marking a kill by D'achao. Like all O'hoa'ti zealots his scalp is kept bald, and shows signs of rough shaving with crude implements. His forehead is marked with a strange scar shaped as some kind of symbol, as is the palm of each hand. D'achao rarely speaks and often seems agitated or terribly bored, while even in his calmer moments he seems to look at some people with a strange, inexplicably unsettling glint in his eyes. Maybe it's just his red eyes, but it seems to be more than that.
D'achao has an obvious dislike of Ikaido but seems to fight well enough in tandem with the Nientese sword-dancer. He also shows an obvious affinity for Kel'aj and does as she says, despite his enmity towards the other Lux Ex Oriente member Ikaido, and despite Kel'aj's apparent lack of interest in him. D'achao the Bronze fights with a crude copper dagger, etched with some foreign symbol, and he wears simple wicker armor, signs of his people's primitiveness, yet they seem reasonably effective against Eyrian arms and armor. His fighting style is direct and brutal, utilizing his broad dagger for attacking, and his free hand for grappling and shoving. He carries two extra copper daggers sheathed in his wicker armor, but only as a reserve. However, what unnerves his opponents is that D'achao always starts a battle by cutting himself a shallow gash and wiping the blood across his copper blade and wicker armor. He chants in his people's primitive tongue the whole time as he ritually cuts himself and then even while fighting, and sometimes spatters his blood on opponents with a flick of his hand, which seems to harm or frighten them for some reason (besides the disgust).
The present Immortal Emperor of Xaleris, the Jade Jaguar (Immortal Emperors guard their true names and assume a title upon achieving the throne based on one of the 60 sacred animals, and the 60 sacred substances) is rather unhappy with his present situation. When he was first selected as heir to the throne, he was of course, overjoyed to have risen to be the future ruler, but now that he's in power, he's realized that many of his decisions are being made for him by his Beloved Predecessors. Worse, familiarity with his fellow Immortal Emperors has bred contempt--he sees the younger ones as arrogant meddlers, jealous of the life they have forsaken, the older ones as distracted, slightly muddle-headed beings whose absorption with arcane matters makes them fail to see their own degeneration. Jade Jaguar is looking for some way to avoid becoming a lich--but to retain the power and infulence he has gained. He realizes that this will bring him into conflict with the Beloved Predecessors--but he's desperate enough not to care...
Agathon of the Crimson Robe who created the senate in his current incarnation was famous for his red trimmed scrolls. At the beginning of every session the scroll was read aloud with polite suggestions how the senate should vote on a certain issue. His scrolls were nearly always followed to the letter.
Organisations:
The Arcaneum is the imperial office regulating spellcasting affairs. Originally it was a small bureau that was tasked to regulate the standardisation process and compile the lexicon, but the Senate tasked them to deal with all arcane matters, concerning the administration.
The arcaneum as it is now is responsible for:
The registration and classification of new spells
Advise the senate on matters arcane
Testing new wizards who want to teach for their competence
Testing freelancer experts for magical knowledge. These freelancers work for merchants and for other civilians.
Training Eyrian wizards in the basics of magic. They cannot teach the Masks because the Masks use a different spellcasting technique, but Masks are still sometimes sent there to learn the required discipline (at the Pillar's option).
Granting permissions for enchanting magic items to freelancer spellcasters
Commission and acquistion of magical items for use by the imperial adminstration.
Detection of malign magical influences in the courts. They ensure that criminal spellcasters don´t fool around with the clerk behind the desk or the higher ups.
Education of the administration about magic and its uses.
Surveillance for mystical phenomena
The Arcaneum is more of an administrative office than a wizard´s guild. There are wizards within the arcaneum but most members are clerks with knowledge about magical theory. They are the experts when the civil offices have to deal with magic or need to use magic. The Arcaneum has 25 active wizard members, 50 Magewrights, and a high number of clerks and experts on duty. They often hire out freelancer spellcasters to aid in lessons, and so at any given time, they may have up to 29 wizards and 58 Magewrights on staff.
They also hire freelance experts as needed.
The arcaneum also works together with the Masks and the Praes Thanatos in classifying spells deemed dangerous. Spells with area effect are deemed dangerous and only upright magicians of the common classes and nobles are allowed to learn this spells. The Knock spell is only allowed to the Praes Thanatos and has been dubbed gnome´s magic key by the common people. The use of the magic door opener also explains the term skeleton key. The Arcaneum is led by a council of seven Magistrates, 2 Wizards, 2 Magewrights, 1 Praetorii Arcanae and 2 Bureaucrats. The Magistrates often meet with members of the Patriae Sicarii to discuss policy and these two arcane-minded groups see eye-to-eye on most issues.
Although the Praes Thanatos and Arcaneum generally get along well, there is some resentment based on the usual department rivalry between different departments of the same government. The arcaneum officials like to make jokes about the creepy gnomes and jokes about Arcaneum beancounters and wannabe mages are a favorite among the ranks of the Praes Thanatos. But both organisations know that they need the other one. The Praes Thanatos cannot survey the whole lands of Eyros and are dependant upon the data provided by the "wannabees". The Arcaneum on the other side needs the arcane power of the necromancers to deal with these problems. Also most of the arcaneum officials are happy that they don´t have to walk into the dangerous situations, the "creepy gnomes" are regularly forced to deal with and that they themselves are respected rather than feared. They like to be invited to parties.
The Arcaneum has a militant branch, whose members who train in combat and arcane magic, the Praetorii Arcanae. These are responsible for providing magical security for the senate and the highest offices, like the Imperial Treasury. They are not the only guards for this installations but part of the senate´s security forces. Embassies in foreign countries have one Praetorii as the other branches, Masks and Praes Thanatos are unsuitable. The Praetorii are normally not deployed away from this posts unless the Praes Thanatos and the Six Magistrates in council decide that there is a need for them. If the local arcaneum official perceive a magical problem in their area they are expected to assess the problem and call on the Praes Thanatos or the nearest Mask to deal with the problem.
The Emperor, the Pillars and Houses, and many rich and imporant citizens make use of a courrier service called the Raptors of Eyros. This group began as a local band, but grew to a powerful guild with guildhouses across the Empire. The courriers of the Raptors carry messages, small parcels, and the like--sort of like the Pony Express of the American Old West. They are known to be fast, efficient, brutal when it comes to protecting their charge, and apparently tireless. They use all sorts of techniques, such as mount replacement at relay stations, employment of magic-users to use boosting magics (or, for a higher cost, to simply teleport messages, but this is unaffordable to all but the wealthiest of the wealthy), and the like. They are also absolutely neutral in all political matters, and are forbidden by both guild law and Imperial dictate from developing political ties with any of the Houses, or any senators. Such figures can emply them, but no more than that. Members of the Raptors have been fired or even, in a few cases, subject to Imperial execution for violating this dictate.
Plot Points:
Elven monuments were either made from delicately worked stone (preferrably marble), from wood, or even from bonsai'd trees. Trees of that sort were often quite large. Trees of this sort can be seen in Nistadeen. These monuments were sometimes covered in traceries of formal Elvish script, commemerating their purpose, or imbuing the monument with some magic, or anchoring some magic to the land around it. This script translates from the Elvish as Silverlight. It has a reflective, silvery quality, giving it its name. When applied, it burns into what it touches by a half a finger's width. Under the light of certain stars the text glows with a matching light.
Most Elven monuments today are in ruins. Many were specifically destroyed, though some later ones were carefully dissected as tokens of victory. Many old families in Eyros have a stone or piece of wood from such an Elven relic. A number of surviving monuments scattered across the countryside are treated with Silverlight. Out of superstition- or fear, they were never torn down. It is often the early work of a member of the Praes Thanatos to visit a number of these monuments, and in conjunction with a local priest, renew declarations that they are anathema and put magical wardings against them. There is often defacement with the blood of animal sacrifices and black paint. The Praes Thanatos has always felt that renewing those once per five or ten years is surely enough for reasonable caution, but the people living near the monoliths and sacred trees know that on the Summer and Winter Solstice these places glow with a fearsome light, and even those who cannot see the light can feel it for miles around.
Rumour has it that House Taljik has connections (and some say significant interest in) the Dracheschatten an organisation active in a number of illegal and shady operations throughout the empire
Many doubt Pillar Mulcibe's anxious claims of celestial heritage. Those that doubt this claim theorize that Hephas was in fact a Vampire and that the members of Pillar Mulcibe are all Moroii, living vampires.
The gladiatorial arenas popular in Eyros have been attracting freeman competitors from distant lands in recent years, exciting the crowds with new blood and exotic appeal. Dark-skinned Mo'ahhi warrior-women with their ginta whip-daggers and bone half-armor, olive-skinned Nientese sword-dancers with their curved bastard swords and lacquered leather armor, and O'hoa'ti bloodspell zealots with their copper daggers and wicker armor.... All have braved the difficult trade-route passes through the Blue Mountains in eastern Eyros, traveling from distant lands across the Dead Waters Isthmus in the frozen north beyond the Blue Mountains. The aging Grand Monarch is increasingly worried that these foreigners are testing Eyrian combat skill and readiness, and he has posted more of Zhalccu province's forces near the Blue Mountains part of the border, worried that a foreign invasion may be coming in the near future. The Grand Monarch harbors suspicions that the Sultan of Indracca has been trying to garner aid in freeing the declining Sultanate from inevitable Eyrian rule.....
The Gladiator Arena's of Eyros are the domain of a number of competing 'Training Stables' which are often owned by Nobles or even wealthy merchants and guilds. Stables provide food, housing and training for their gladiators. Contrary to popular belief not all Gladiators are slaves. Many are criminals spared execution or consignment to the military in order to fight in the arena, others are volunteers who pay for training in the stables and may choose when to fight. Of course there are also Free men unattached to any stable who sign up to fight, the Stable Owners can however refuse such challenges but not those of another registered Stable. The Dracheschatten runs a large stable with its own training barracks (uner Taljik patronage) and champions in three different arena's across the empire. It is also this group that has been sponsoring many (though not all) of the Mo'ahhi, Nientese and O'hoa'ti gladiators.
Arbiters of the arcaneum surveilling the gladiatorial contests currently debate if D´achao is using magics to help in his battles (as said earlier magic besides arms and armor is forbidden in duels). None of his opponents complained, as crying foul without reason results in fines and nobody is sure enough. At the moment the arbiters consider to send for a wizard able to watch the entire duel with arcane sight spells.
The Zarthalts are dangerous predators which, despite Eyros's usual reverence for reptiles, are hunted ruthlessly. This is because of their tendency to make the Eyrian wilderness dangerous for passers-by. Although it begins its life as an unintelligent quadrapedal saurial creature which looks like a Velociraptor on Earth, the Zarthlat has a powerful gaze that hypnotises onlookers into staring into its eyes slack-jawed. As they do so, it slowly drains their intellect and mind, distorting until it stands bipedally as a wicked monstrous humanoid with vague fragments of the memories of the victim. Meanwhile, the victim's hands become feet, and they hunch forward onto four legs, distorting and becoming an animal in mind and body. The transformed Zarthalt enjoys eating human flesh, and perhaps the only small comfort is that the creature is sometimes unable to effectively make attacks against the loved ones of the mind that it has drained, standing dazed.
Politics:
Zhal is the most fierce and oppressive Pillar, ruling their lands with an iron fist and causing much dissent amongst the dwarves and other peasants, thus why the Jagged Eye is largely based in Zhalccu province. House Zhal produces many of the finest soldiers in the Legions, proud and skilled, tightly adherant to the military line of command, but also ruthless and fond of old orcish ways. Warriors of Pillar Zhal tattoo themselves with an orcish symbol after each successful battle, somewhere open like the arm or forehead, where other warriors can see how successful the warrior has been. Zhal warriors drink a few drops of their foes' blood after each victory, an old orcish tradition that no one really understands the reason behind anymore.
Other than the Grand Monarch, the greatest political power in all of Eyros is the Imperial Senate. The modern structure of the Imperial Senate was established by Agathon of the Crimson Robe after the War of the Crumbled Pillar. Only pure blood Humans and Orcs, first generation Half-Orcs, and Gnomes may be Senators. Inspired by the degrees of a circle, the Imperial Senate has 360 members. The seats are divided in this manner:
23 dal-Vajar Orcs
12 dal-Vajar ty-Malarn Half-Orcs
12 dal-Vajar ty-Kiron Half-Orcs
12 dal-Vajar ty-Mulcibe Half-Orcs
23 dal-Zhal Orcs
12 dal-Zhal ty-Malarn Half-Orcs
12 dal-Zhal ty-Kiron Half-Orcs
12 dal-Zhal ty-Mulcibe Half-Orcs
23 dal-Taljik Orcs
12 dal-Taljik ty-Malarn Half-Orcs
12 dal-Taljik ty-Kiron Half-Orcs
12 dal-Taljik ty-Mulcibe Half-Orcs
23 dal-Malarn Humans
12 dal-Malarn ty-Vajar Half-Orcs
12 dal-Malarn ty-Zhal Half-Orcs
12 dal-Malarn ty-Taljik Half-Orcs
23 dal-Kiron Humans
12 dal-Kiron ty-Vajar Half-Orcs
12 dal-Kiron ty-Zhal Half-Orcs
12 dal-Kiron ty-Taljik Half-Orcs
23 dal-Mulcibe Humans
12 dal-Mulcibe ty-Vajar Half-Orcs
12 dal-Mulcibe ty-Zhal Half-Orcs
12 dal-Mulcibe ty-Taljik Half-Orcs
6 Praes Thanatos Gnomes
Eyrian half-orcs of second generation birth or later fill many of the lesser aristocratic roles in the bureaucracy of Eyros, and fill up a fair number of the lesser military officer positions. First-generation half-orcs who don't gain the throne instead fill many of the upper-echelon positions in the Legions and the aristocracy, some becoming magistrates, prefects, consuls, chancellors, or provincial governers, others becoming centurions, legates, and magnates. First-generation half-orcs are also frequent ambassadors and household managers. Other half-orcs are unfortunately incapable of receiving much inheritance, and many seek fortune or glory for themselves by training in the Claws of the Dragon style and competing in the tournaments, while others seek answers through the philosophy of the Dragon's Way. However, the best avenue for second-generation half-orcs and their descendants is to join the clergy of the Draconic Legacy or the Children of the Dawn, though a few find their way instead to the Animus cult. Many half-orcs cannot, as the clergy can only take in so many, and instead become adventurers, or join the half-orc barbarians outside of Eyros' society to join their cast-off kindred.
House Taljik is known for its competitive attitude, perhaps because of its lesser status. Taljik members are avid game fans, many enjoying gladiatorial combat and duels, but some preferring quieter games of thought and strategy like Zhakkar or Talyin, the latter of which is an interesting and complicated game that was "discovered" recently by a scion of House Taljik who claims that is was originally invented by Talya to strengthen the minds of her children to help ward off The Twelve's influence.
The senate could be considered the legislative body of the Dominion of Eyros, but there is no constitution detailing a rigid government system. In normal times, the senate passes the laws, serves as a meeting ground of the Pillars, authorizes the grand monarch to go to war and decides about the imperial household. Senators are nominally free to vote as they wish but the pillar doesn´t take kindly to senators who don´t do as they wish. As pureblooded senators can be called back within three months time, a wise senator does as told. Half-orcs can only be recalled if both pillars agree. But there is an unspoken agreement that half-orcs are considered to be affiliated with the -dal Pillar. if the -dal Pillar decides to withdraw a senator, the other one normally agrees. A half-orc can only be withdrawn after the year has passed. The Grand Monarch is in charge of all the day to day politics and is able to veto laws if not passed by 2/3 of the senate. There are also other privileges and powers who were granted or taken away depending on the grand monarch currently in the seat of power. He is also considered to be a senator of the appropriate house constellation and the supreme commander of all legions. The grand monarch cannot be withdrawn by the pillars. The Grand Monarch is also the moderator in house conflicts if the Senate isn´t able to solve the issue. If 1/2 of the Senate is unable to attend the sessions, all debates are postponed until the required number of senators are available. As senators often challenge each other, it happens more often as one might believe. Most Grand Monarchs who were able to rule as dictators were able to control the military and disbanded the senate or just got hold of many senators. Especially the half-orc descendants of the houses are prone to abandon their former allegiances and are often challenged by faithful members of their -dal pillar to remove them from important sessions.
Before Agathon´s reforms, some houses could get hold of rulership when the grand monarch was a member of their House, using political dominance in the Senate and the position of the monarch to gain the sole rulership. During the reign of the last two monarchs the system has reached a stable position. The pillars accept most of the monarch´s wishes and the monarch takes care to considerate all Houses wishes. There is a good deal of political wrangling in the Senate however and alliances are shifting all the time. In this time senators who are master duelists are in high demand and everyone is polishing his combat skills or his rhetorics. As fights in the Senate are increasingly common, the Grand Monarch friendly suggested that the fights should be fists only when fighting within the chamber, otherwise there wouldn´t be enough priests to attend to the wounds of the fighters or senators to attend to the sessions next week.
Emperor Ezlan managed to gain hold of the privilege to appoint the imperial judges, got a higher number of masks and so on.
His predecessor managed to form an alliance with the Praes Thanatos, who use their huge influence and privileges on behalf of the Grand Monarch. On the other side the Grand Monarch backs up the Praes Thanatos in their political endeavours. The Patriae Sicarii are happy to work withhin this stable alliance especially after having to work with an unstable alliance of houses in the Senate beforehand.
Culture:
Long ago the Kohl'Tass taught a group of Eyrians the Discipline of Nature's Grasp, the unarmed fighting style long practiced by Kohl'Tass since they are oathbound to wield no weapons in their homeland. The Discipline emphasizes grappling and throws, as well as hand strikes, but the lizardfolk couldn't teach their human and orc disciples the claw, tail, and bite techniques. This fighting art and its introspective philosophy spread gradually in Eyros and was quickly adapted to different forms as the students became teachers, and a few small schools of the resultant martial arts have been built in various cities and towns across Eyros. The Eyrians altered the philosophy nearly as much as the fighting style, and now call it the Dragon's Way, but each school teaches its personal variation of the style and philosophy, so for instance the school in lower Eyrdeyn teaches Dragon's Way of the Bold Fist. Exercises and disciplines taught by the Dragon's Way, not to mention self-defense skills, are popular amongst the peasantry and some nobles, but teaching the art to dwarves or elves is forbidden in Eyros.
Over the centuries, the Orcs traditions in Eyros have been distinctly watered down, and rebuilt to suite the sensibilities of all the races. While Orc dominance maintains Orc values as important, many cultural traditions have been lost. The ancient shamanic traditions of the Orc people have largely been lost.
Some of this, most notably the Blood-Oath Magic, survives today in the Society of the Iron Arm, an association of Orc and Half-Orc metal-workers. The Iron Arm idolizes the primal Orc lifestyle, but are simultaneously amongst the most educated of common Orcish folk. While they are present in Mhur, they don't share the values of that city. Most members of the Society are scattered individuals across the countryside. Blood-Oath Magic involves personal blood sacrifice as a trade to the spirits that help in battle or for more general survival of self and tribe. In the Iron Arm, it manifests in the creation of some exceptional weapons and armor. This equipment is never made by commission, but always for a specific purpose of the smith or his brothers in the society. It is made in an all night ritual involving rhythmic drums and the spilling of the veings into the liquid metal. The Blood-Smiths would have everyone believe that this ritual allows them to make anything in a single night, but it is actually just the opening day's activity of normal item crafting. On the last day is a more meditative night ritual, in which more blood is painted on the equipment in swirling patterns of war. Somehow, as part of this ritual the equipment is tainted ever so slightly with red. Something about this coloration, or maybe something less definable, unnerves those who face against such weapons and armor in battle.
Magic on Eyros is a relatively vibrant art, with theoretical journals and practical advancement. Some recent examples: For thousands of years, it was believed that only spells of the sixth veil or higher could produce a geas effect (Valjin's Exaction being the spell). Recently, Herewald developed a lesser but simpler form, Herewald's Requirement, of the fourth veil. In his waking hours, the somewhat-unstable Mask Kaillo developed Kaillo's Transformation, which could make the elven mage a dangerous melee combatant, a strange mirror to his subconscious transformation into a dangerous opponent of the state. Kalis Ny'Dal-Malarn (while still a historian of house Malarn) created Kalis's Mnemonic Enhancer. Always inquisitive, Kalis is well read in contemporary magical theory and was able to create this spell which requires a large amount of theory to understand, and thus was not even possible until recently.
Eyrian nobles are proud of their lineages and the deeds of their ancestors, as seen in worship of family gods, claim to a common ancestor with in the family and the long names indicating ancestry. Children often learn the names of their ancestors, as far as known. Despite this, emotional connections between parents and their children are not so tight as an otside observer would expect. The pillars encourage their members to develop thier ties more to the House as a whole or their branch of the house instead of their own core family. Noble children are often watched over by tutors and servants, as their parents are busy attending to political, military or economic matters. The local family branch grants young adults some income and holdings who belong to the House for their lifetime. Over time both increase as the noble comes into age and is able to gather influence. This can become a large part of the noble´s belongings. Of course the noble has to pay for the lease. After his death the house´s belongings return to the house again. The noble can pass on some of his personal wealth to his children but a large part of the other valuta are expected to return to the house as well. Nobles who enriched their houses greatly are praised by their peers and givan a lavish funeral. The ones who disappointed their house are given a small funeral only, a mark of shame for their children.
Noble half-orcs of the first generation are encouraged to pass on a larger share of their wealth to thir second generation children. As these children are not members of a pillar anymore, this is their compensation. They are expected to start their own households and are considered to be formally independent of their House. Nevertheless, most of these new households are strongly tied to one pillar, most often one that one of their ancestors belonged to. These minor nobles often applicate for lesser positions in the provinces of their patron pillar or gather holdings of their own in the province. Many are also entering clerical offices, lower military ranks or become tournament fighters (see post 659). Half-Orcs are allowed to marry orcs or humans. Most often the house concentrates to arrange marriages with members of one race. After seven generations their offspring are considered to be purebloods again. These members of an half-orc house can then enter one of the houses, thier ancestors claimed allegiance to. The senate passed this law after realizing that most members of both races have some trace of the other race in their ancestry after living together for 3000 years. Even keeping track of their ancestries was not sufficient as non nobles are allowed to marry into noble houses as well on a regular basis. These commoners often didn´t keep track of their bloodline or hid the fact the fact that their blood was not as pure as it seems.
Among the taverns, inns, and other gathering places of Eyros, games of dice are popular. Regular attendees of taverns will often play several games together, and establish a ranking system. Often, these local champions will challenge each other, in search of new tests for their skill. And of course, money, from bets placed on the fall of the dice, and also the stakes that are played for. Those who are found cheating are often assaulted, thrown out of the location, and made unwelcome to return. As an aside, someone might want to come up with some sort of qualifying system. These new gladiators probably wouldn't be able to just show up, without proving themselves somehow. Else they'd go up against the champ, die, and that's not entertainment.
History:
The lost house of Garren:
The lost house of Garren controlled most of the coastal waters near Ghalfaen, Malarn-ka and some inner territories as their lands were spread out all over Eyros. Malarn-ka was named Garran-ka at this time and was the houses seat of power. Garren controlled most of the sea trade and the position of Grand Admiral of the Navy was traditionally held by members of house Garren. The other pillars were envious of the house´s wealth. After the spectacular defeat at the battle of New Haven, the house fell on hard times, as they lost much of their revenue to halfling pirates and beared the shame of losing to mere halflings. Much of their resources afterwards were to develop better ocean going vessels, superior to the galley who could only stay near the coastline safely. As the empire itself pretty much abandoned the navy after the defeat, house Garren was the only house that invested in naval affairs. This put a big strain on the house´s treasury.
During the war, house Garren destroyed the former city of Malarn-ka utterly and put the whole population to the sword and salted the fields. Some poeple claim that the house made a pact with Cururultar, who granted them aid in exchange for the massacre.
The house got annihilated by house malarn and their allies for this atrocity.
After the war, the new house didn´t want to have any connection to the old house and kept their branch name of Taljik. Garran-ka was given over to house Malarn as compensation for the lost city. Some other holdings of house Garren were distributed among the other houses, Taljik got some new territories to form a coherent province instead of the diestributed holdings their predecessors had. The most precious jewel of Garren land was the city of Mhur. As the houses were unable to agree, Agathinon decreed that Mhur was to be a free city, only answerable to the emperor.
During the war of the broken pillar, members of House Malarn feared for the destruction of their library. As it was clear that the first Malarn-Ka was a possible target for a siege and fearing that conquerors or civil unrest would threaten the books, librarians and scholars of House Malarn packed up the majority of the library in secret and deposited it in a secret redoubt in a mountain valley. The conquerors of the fallen Malarn-ka looted the library and brought everything they could find to Garran-ka. After the war, House Malarn founded the city of Jhazed´Khal at the site of the secret redoubt, that became the main building of the new library. Jhazed´Khal means "House of many words" in ancient orcish.
Every pillar later swore oaths on their family gods that never should Jhazed´Khal, keeper of Eyrian history, be threatened by their house, as long as it will be a city of knowledge and scholars and not a city of war. In keeping the spirit of this oath, there is only a smaller imperial garrison in the city. The defenses are in the hand of the imperial masks and the Praes Thanatos who have a large library themselves in the city. the Praes Thanatos only show a small contingent but a large troop of undead has been squeezed in tightly in excavated underground caverns below the necromancer´s library. Many scholars are upset that House Malarn restricts access to the library. They think it violates the spirit of the oath. They point out that the oath was certainly meant that the library should be a center of learning for everyone.
Zhalgar the Merciless was a great war hero of the Eyrian invasion of 41 BE. Known for his psychological warfare, he put to the torch entire cities of non-combatants when their local garrisons refused to surrender, thus encouraging fear and acceptance among the resisting elves. With his elite all-orcish army, (there were several large armies working in tandem to conquer Valjaria, it was with numbers that the orcs and humans defeated the mighty elven empire) Zhalgar swept a 360-degree-arc around the periphery of Valjaria, farthest from the capital, where the Imperial army would have the hardest time defending, subjecting the local garrisons to surrender and forcing all the elves to choose between becoming slaves or being destroyed. Zhalgar was the ancestor of House Zhal, and even now they hold their lands from those which Zhalgar conquered.
House Taljik has only a tenuous claim to a legendary ancestor compared to the other Pillars. In this case, they are descendant of the second marriage of Talya, the wife of the martyr Garryx, who died resisting the call of the Twelve against the orcs (House Garren descended from Garryx). Although most histories claim that Talya was mind-controlled like many other orcs and it was she who betrayed Garryx to his enemies, thus earning the position of favoured concubine to the new orc leader under the Twelve, Garryx's brother Kalzan, some of the more creative scholars hired by House Taljik claim that Talya fought to protect Garryx along with Kalzan, and that Talya and Kalzan escaped and worked to free the orcs afterwards.
Religion:
There is an older faith in Nistadeen which is quietly included today as just another cultural tradition. This was the shared faith with the country that came to be dominated by necromancers and known as Valjaria. It centers around the worship of certain sacred trees. Groves of these trees are found in most cities of Nistadeen, and the sage-mystics who look after them have enormous powers in working with plants. Many holy days now appropriated by the Corythos faith coincide with days when these gardeners enact certain ancient rituals that were said to make the Elven land pleasant, fertile, and safe. Once, these were called the Sacred Gardeners, but such formal recognitions were stripped with the Realization of Corythos. Still these gardeners are very popular to advice-seekers on many matters, and when a group of three or more gardeners wants to speak to anyone in the Elven realm, they do so. It is not a good idea to avoid this audience.
Myths and Legends:
"Religion is the folly of weak minds" Duroghar growled his eyes blaizing white with power. The dwarf was bald and his face marked with ritual tatoo confirming his status as an Elder of the Jagged Eye "it is a deception designed to keep They-who-are-deceived blind to the Truth of this world.
"The Jagged Eye teaches us to see the Unity of Mind and Spirit. The physical world is a deception wrought by the demon Taufenacht and into which weak minds are bound. In the beginning Mind and Spirit were one and all things were unified and without limitations. As Eons past the Four Seasons took form and in each their were minds distinct and yet unified and we were there amongst them
The greatest of minds took form becoming th First Ones and Taufenacht was amongst their number as were Maia and those which are called Dragons. It was Taufenacht who made the first bid for power, deceiving us all and imposing limitations as he created the deception which is this world.
It is through mastery of Mind and Soul that we transcend the limitations of Taufenachts deception and return to our original nature. Taufenacht can not abide this and so They-who-are-decieved, the orcs and humans and all others condemn us and cast us low. But not for long for soon we shall be Unified..."
Other Races:
A gang of Halfling raiders are working on taming and training sea creatures and raiders to ride those creatures, to make them more manuverable and deadly. If only they could find a way to solve that pesky "need to breathe while underwater" problem.
One of the Oaths that many elven Masks are sworn to is the Enforcer Oath. Masks sworn to this Oath are sent to occupied territories where Eyros holds mostly token control but nonetheless conquered already. Enforcer Masks are kept in 12-person phalanxes where they learn to work as a unit and protect eachother from hostile conquered peoples. They take up posts in the occupied realms and police them, memorizing Eyrian laws and enforcing them upon the newly-subjugated populace. Enforcer Masks are controlled through a much more powerful version of the other well-known Oaths, one that extends beyond Eyros' normal range of control, but requires somewhat expensive components, significant time to activate, and potent enchanters to cast. Nonetheless Enforcer Masks are the most numerous, numbering at 1,800, as the Sovereignty tries to maintain a solid grasp on the nations it conquers. Enforcer Masks currently occupy many of the lands most recently taken from Ghalfaen, Nistadeen, Indracca, and Saagersberg in the past thousand years or so. They are also often sent to range outside the borders and scout out barbarian lands or Kwlloch to keep the Dominion informed. Many die on these scoutings. Enforcer Masks are also often used for sailing missions to try and find new territories or fight off pirates, but the poor naval skills of most Eyrians generally leads these expeditions to disaster.
Unfortunately, the same powerful enchantments that control the minds of Enforcer Masks also impedes their own magical abilities, as the enchantments must keep the Enforcer Masks from gaining too much mental power else they gradually grow beyond the control, during their long stay outside the controlling aura of Eyros. Consequently, these potent enchantments wear upon the mind and sanity of Enforcer Masks as they grow older and more powerful, so Enforcer Masks never reach any significant heights of personal power before their psyche cracks under the stress, and they usually end up commiting suicide or simply being executed for radical behavior. Enforcer Masks typically live a few hundred years before dying of this madness, and the Praes Thanatos has yet to find a solution to the degrading effects of these potent, long-range enchantments......but maybe they don't want a solution found.....
It is part of the ancient magical heritage of the Elven people that most, with a spark of potential and the proper training, can be decent at magic. Few choose to walk this path. Because the Praes Thanatos finds it essential to tie up all Elven spellcasters, they carefully test all Elven children by there 40th year. Out of those children with the potential to work magic particularly well are selected replacement Masks, and additional Masks as ordered by the senate in a vote held at the beginning of every century. This vote usually comes to eight, increasing the number of Masks for every Pillar, the Grand Monarch, and the Guardian Masks by one. The Praes Thanatos push to keep the numbers within reason, concerned that too much magical power should be outside their direct control- even given the amount of control they have over the Masks as a whole. Those Elven children with some spellcasting potential but not selected to be Masked have their arcane potential sealed within them. Early experiments in simply burning it out resulted in a cancerous sickness that caused unrest amongst the Elven populace and was emotionally traumatic to the Masks. The Arcaneum, among its other duties, is reponsible for teaching the young Elves selected for Maskhood the disciplines of proper education and log, the beginning theories of magic, the glories of the Empire, and the importance of Oaths. They swear the Oaths at the age of fifty, at which point they are not allowed to see their family again for at least 30 more years, if not forever. They then begin their training, serving as an apprentice under another Mask, an appointed teacher of the Arcaneum, and overseen discretely by a member of the Praes Thanatos.
Climate and Geography
For those living around the high mountain tops, one of the constant dangers is of lightning storms, which can last for several hours, with lightning striking once every minute or two. Some scholars have theorized that this is from the static being built up from friction between clouds and mountain, but nobody knows for sure.
Other Nations
New Haven controls a rocky island some 40 miles by 20. It is an open port- it does not look too closely at ships that journey to them, nor does it charge a fee for docking out in the boonies. As a result, New Haven has a certain lawless vibe, as Halfling Pirates, Human Smugglers, and spies of all nations use the city as a safe port and meeting place. Despite it being halfling owned, everyone except Eyros views it as the closest thing to neutral ground. The New Haven Vault is the closest thing to a bank on the island. They control a cluster of maze-like sea caves, and they hold and guard the wealth or property of anyone that pays the fee. They are also money-lenders with stiff interest rates for non-halflings.
The appealing Mo'ahhi warrior-women, with their revealing bone half-armour, are the subject of many stories told in hushed whispers by young men in Eyros. They say that the Mo'ahhi are only women because they kill the man after mating with him, sharing the flesh of his heart with their Imha'oa (a close-knit group of seven Mo'ahhi, none of which is related by blood what who regard each other as closer than sisters), tearing his sinews and ligaments from the corpse to make their whips and taking his bones to make their armour. The Mo'ahhi are very protective of their whips and armour, known to ruthless slay any opponent who damages them, lending credence to the belief that the warrior-women consider themselves in a marriage relationship with their arms and armour. Although Eyrian women who hear of these things are repulsed by the barbarity, the rumours only tend to make the young men more fascinated with the Mo'ahhi.
Far to the southwest, lies one of the only great kingdoms that Eyros has not succeeded in conquering--Xaleris, the so-called Old Empire. This reclusive nation of humans is infamous for its sorcery, and death-worshiping priests. The Xal, as they are called, are ruled by the so-called Immortal Emperors, who, after 25 years of rule, "ascend" to lichhood, where they serve as "advisors" to their successors. The relationship between the two nations is one of icy peace, as while the Dominion has never had the power to conquer Xaleris, neither have the Xal had the power to take the fight to the half-bloods. The Xal's state religion is monotheistic, claiming the world to be the creation of a diety they call "The Mother" who encompasses both good and evil, life and death. Xal's worship all aspects of the Mother, but hold her aspects as "Divine Death" and "Divinie Destroyer" highest.
The people of Saagersberg worship Conquers Twice because they believe that he is the ultimate manifestation of the spirits of good. They believe that good and evil spirits, mainly incorporeal, float around the world and cause joyous events and maladies. As such, they consider incorporeal undead to be evil spirits. The people of Saagerberg have developed techniques to commune with the good spirits and exorcise the wicked ones.
FAR to the west, across the ocean lays another continent. This contient is called Crandora, and is home to a egalitarian society, with free elves, and a thriving dwarven culture, as major differences between it and Eyros. The only nation that contact has been made with is along the north eastern coast, and calls itself Instram. It was only recently that Eyrian explorers made contact, so trade and diplomatic ties are still being hammered out.
NPCs:
Gor'Spak, a 5th generation half-orc of the barbarian half-orc movement, has taken a small contingent of the half-orcs to the Blue Mountains. He is a sorceror of growing power and plans to take some of the wild riding lizards that the Eyrian calvary employs and magically alter them so that they can fly. He has grand plans of fielding a half-orc army of aerial calvary that will throw down the human and orc pillars and replace them with the truly noble half-orcs. So far, his attempts have only met with failure.
A leading member of the barbaric Half-Orcs, the oversized Thazdan the Subtle, has conceived of an idea to teach their Half-Orc forbears a lesson by killing their children in the guise of angry ancestor spirits. Only two others of the Orcs think this trick is worth trying. They've begun by practicing at random in smaller towns in the countryside for the last couple months, and are now ready to begin in the capitol city itself.
A trio of foreign gladiators has recently arrived in Eyrdeyn to compete in the Eyrdeyn Grand Coliseum's MCCLXVII (1,267th) Annual Games, to be held midway through the coming autumn. The trio, calling themselves Lux Ex Oriente, "Light from the East," and have earned significant popularity with the crowds in arenas from Zhalccu to Eyrdeyn. These gladiators are also great athletes that intend to compete in other parts of the Games as well as the gladiatorial competition. Kal'aj'ash'nee intends to enter the decathlon, Ikaido the marathon, and D'achao'himat'echet the mounted race.
The apparent leader of Lux Ex Oriente is Kal'aj'ash'nee, a stunning warrior-woman from distant Mo'ahhim, nearly ebon of skin with long, many-braided black hair, she seems to be the only one of the trio who speaks Vulgar Eyrosian; the others only speak their native tongues and Mo'ahhim. Kal'aj'ash'nee wears piecemeal bone-and-leather armor in the apparently-Mo'ahhi-common style, revealing but mildly functional and easy to move in. Like others of her kind she wields a whip-dagger (ginta as the Mo'ahhi call it), with a blade made of sharpened bone and etched with crude symbols. Kal'aj the Ebon (as the crowds know her) is well-muscled but particularly lithe and seems to constantly surprise her opponents with the speed and accuracy of her ginta. Her Mo'ahhi fighting style is dancelike and appealing, but deadly to foes with the spinning whip-dagger. She is manipulative and cunning, but does not speak often, and has a hardness in her looks. The Mo'ahhi's accompanying foreign allies, though they often seem at odds, are Motoushi Ikaido of Nientei, and D'achao'himat'echet Uramao'tetcatlan of O'hoa'ti'neumas.
Ikaido the Azure (as the crowds know him) is a somewhat short, olive-skinned Nientese man of middling age and wizened appearance, with two long, thin mustaches and black hair tied back in a topknot. He wears a dark blue headband with a sunrise-behind-a-mountain stitching over the forehead, and his blue-lacquered leather lamellar has a very foreign look to it, and doesn't seem to lessen his incredible speed or agility. Ikaido carries a curved bastard sword and similar shortsword, at the left side of his belt in artistic sheathes, and the blades themselves are lightly engraved with colored patterns. He speaks frequently to Kel'aj in her language Mo'ahhim, seemingly displeased regarding others but mindful of angering Kel'aj with too much of his complaining, and Ikaido never seems to address D'achao directly. Ikaido at least seems willing to talk to arena fans with Kal'aj translating, and seems to convey only compliments and polite gratitude to his fans, though some see that he simply hides his contempt well. The sword-dancer fights with a fast-paced two-sword style emphasizing brutally fast and deceptive offense over defense, but is quite agile on the defense as well, though not as skilled at it.
D'achao the Bronze (as the crowds know him) is an O'hoa'ti bloodspell zealot, whose savage knife-fighting style and self-mutilation, not to mention copper dagger and wicker armor, speak volumes about his people's culture. From the hardly-known O'hoa'ti'neumas hordelands of the far, far east, D'achao'himat'echet is a towering reddish-bronze man of great muscle and little finesse. Though perhaps ruggedly handsome, D'achao's body is scarred in many places and apparently each scar is either from a battle-wound or self-inflicted as marking a kill by D'achao. Like all O'hoa'ti zealots his scalp is kept bald, and shows signs of rough shaving with crude implements. His forehead is marked with a strange scar shaped as some kind of symbol, as is the palm of each hand. D'achao rarely speaks and often seems agitated or terribly bored, while even in his calmer moments he seems to look at some people with a strange, inexplicably unsettling glint in his eyes. Maybe it's just his red eyes, but it seems to be more than that.
D'achao has an obvious dislike of Ikaido but seems to fight well enough in tandem with the Nientese sword-dancer. He also shows an obvious affinity for Kel'aj and does as she says, despite his enmity towards the other Lux Ex Oriente member Ikaido, and despite Kel'aj's apparent lack of interest in him. D'achao the Bronze fights with a crude copper dagger, etched with some foreign symbol, and he wears simple wicker armor, signs of his people's primitiveness, yet they seem reasonably effective against Eyrian arms and armor. His fighting style is direct and brutal, utilizing his broad dagger for attacking, and his free hand for grappling and shoving. He carries two extra copper daggers sheathed in his wicker armor, but only as a reserve. However, what unnerves his opponents is that D'achao always starts a battle by cutting himself a shallow gash and wiping the blood across his copper blade and wicker armor. He chants in his people's primitive tongue the whole time as he ritually cuts himself and then even while fighting, and sometimes spatters his blood on opponents with a flick of his hand, which seems to harm or frighten them for some reason (besides the disgust).
The present Immortal Emperor of Xaleris, the Jade Jaguar (Immortal Emperors guard their true names and assume a title upon achieving the throne based on one of the 60 sacred animals, and the 60 sacred substances) is rather unhappy with his present situation. When he was first selected as heir to the throne, he was of course, overjoyed to have risen to be the future ruler, but now that he's in power, he's realized that many of his decisions are being made for him by his Beloved Predecessors. Worse, familiarity with his fellow Immortal Emperors has bred contempt--he sees the younger ones as arrogant meddlers, jealous of the life they have forsaken, the older ones as distracted, slightly muddle-headed beings whose absorption with arcane matters makes them fail to see their own degeneration. Jade Jaguar is looking for some way to avoid becoming a lich--but to retain the power and infulence he has gained. He realizes that this will bring him into conflict with the Beloved Predecessors--but he's desperate enough not to care...
Agathon of the Crimson Robe who created the senate in his current incarnation was famous for his red trimmed scrolls. At the beginning of every session the scroll was read aloud with polite suggestions how the senate should vote on a certain issue. His scrolls were nearly always followed to the letter.
Organisations:
The Arcaneum is the imperial office regulating spellcasting affairs. Originally it was a small bureau that was tasked to regulate the standardisation process and compile the lexicon, but the Senate tasked them to deal with all arcane matters, concerning the administration.
The arcaneum as it is now is responsible for:
The registration and classification of new spells
Advise the senate on matters arcane
Testing new wizards who want to teach for their competence
Testing freelancer experts for magical knowledge. These freelancers work for merchants and for other civilians.
Training Eyrian wizards in the basics of magic. They cannot teach the Masks because the Masks use a different spellcasting technique, but Masks are still sometimes sent there to learn the required discipline (at the Pillar's option).
Granting permissions for enchanting magic items to freelancer spellcasters
Commission and acquistion of magical items for use by the imperial adminstration.
Detection of malign magical influences in the courts. They ensure that criminal spellcasters don´t fool around with the clerk behind the desk or the higher ups.
Education of the administration about magic and its uses.
Surveillance for mystical phenomena
The Arcaneum is more of an administrative office than a wizard´s guild. There are wizards within the arcaneum but most members are clerks with knowledge about magical theory. They are the experts when the civil offices have to deal with magic or need to use magic. The Arcaneum has 25 active wizard members, 50 Magewrights, and a high number of clerks and experts on duty. They often hire out freelancer spellcasters to aid in lessons, and so at any given time, they may have up to 29 wizards and 58 Magewrights on staff.
They also hire freelance experts as needed.
The arcaneum also works together with the Masks and the Praes Thanatos in classifying spells deemed dangerous. Spells with area effect are deemed dangerous and only upright magicians of the common classes and nobles are allowed to learn this spells. The Knock spell is only allowed to the Praes Thanatos and has been dubbed gnome´s magic key by the common people. The use of the magic door opener also explains the term skeleton key. The Arcaneum is led by a council of seven Magistrates, 2 Wizards, 2 Magewrights, 1 Praetorii Arcanae and 2 Bureaucrats. The Magistrates often meet with members of the Patriae Sicarii to discuss policy and these two arcane-minded groups see eye-to-eye on most issues.
Although the Praes Thanatos and Arcaneum generally get along well, there is some resentment based on the usual department rivalry between different departments of the same government. The arcaneum officials like to make jokes about the creepy gnomes and jokes about Arcaneum beancounters and wannabe mages are a favorite among the ranks of the Praes Thanatos. But both organisations know that they need the other one. The Praes Thanatos cannot survey the whole lands of Eyros and are dependant upon the data provided by the "wannabees". The Arcaneum on the other side needs the arcane power of the necromancers to deal with these problems. Also most of the arcaneum officials are happy that they don´t have to walk into the dangerous situations, the "creepy gnomes" are regularly forced to deal with and that they themselves are respected rather than feared. They like to be invited to parties.
The Arcaneum has a militant branch, whose members who train in combat and arcane magic, the Praetorii Arcanae. These are responsible for providing magical security for the senate and the highest offices, like the Imperial Treasury. They are not the only guards for this installations but part of the senate´s security forces. Embassies in foreign countries have one Praetorii as the other branches, Masks and Praes Thanatos are unsuitable. The Praetorii are normally not deployed away from this posts unless the Praes Thanatos and the Six Magistrates in council decide that there is a need for them. If the local arcaneum official perceive a magical problem in their area they are expected to assess the problem and call on the Praes Thanatos or the nearest Mask to deal with the problem.
The Emperor, the Pillars and Houses, and many rich and imporant citizens make use of a courrier service called the Raptors of Eyros. This group began as a local band, but grew to a powerful guild with guildhouses across the Empire. The courriers of the Raptors carry messages, small parcels, and the like--sort of like the Pony Express of the American Old West. They are known to be fast, efficient, brutal when it comes to protecting their charge, and apparently tireless. They use all sorts of techniques, such as mount replacement at relay stations, employment of magic-users to use boosting magics (or, for a higher cost, to simply teleport messages, but this is unaffordable to all but the wealthiest of the wealthy), and the like. They are also absolutely neutral in all political matters, and are forbidden by both guild law and Imperial dictate from developing political ties with any of the Houses, or any senators. Such figures can emply them, but no more than that. Members of the Raptors have been fired or even, in a few cases, subject to Imperial execution for violating this dictate.
Plot Points:
Elven monuments were either made from delicately worked stone (preferrably marble), from wood, or even from bonsai'd trees. Trees of that sort were often quite large. Trees of this sort can be seen in Nistadeen. These monuments were sometimes covered in traceries of formal Elvish script, commemerating their purpose, or imbuing the monument with some magic, or anchoring some magic to the land around it. This script translates from the Elvish as Silverlight. It has a reflective, silvery quality, giving it its name. When applied, it burns into what it touches by a half a finger's width. Under the light of certain stars the text glows with a matching light.
Most Elven monuments today are in ruins. Many were specifically destroyed, though some later ones were carefully dissected as tokens of victory. Many old families in Eyros have a stone or piece of wood from such an Elven relic. A number of surviving monuments scattered across the countryside are treated with Silverlight. Out of superstition- or fear, they were never torn down. It is often the early work of a member of the Praes Thanatos to visit a number of these monuments, and in conjunction with a local priest, renew declarations that they are anathema and put magical wardings against them. There is often defacement with the blood of animal sacrifices and black paint. The Praes Thanatos has always felt that renewing those once per five or ten years is surely enough for reasonable caution, but the people living near the monoliths and sacred trees know that on the Summer and Winter Solstice these places glow with a fearsome light, and even those who cannot see the light can feel it for miles around.
Rumour has it that House Taljik has connections (and some say significant interest in) the Dracheschatten an organisation active in a number of illegal and shady operations throughout the empire
Many doubt Pillar Mulcibe's anxious claims of celestial heritage. Those that doubt this claim theorize that Hephas was in fact a Vampire and that the members of Pillar Mulcibe are all Moroii, living vampires.
The gladiatorial arenas popular in Eyros have been attracting freeman competitors from distant lands in recent years, exciting the crowds with new blood and exotic appeal. Dark-skinned Mo'ahhi warrior-women with their ginta whip-daggers and bone half-armor, olive-skinned Nientese sword-dancers with their curved bastard swords and lacquered leather armor, and O'hoa'ti bloodspell zealots with their copper daggers and wicker armor.... All have braved the difficult trade-route passes through the Blue Mountains in eastern Eyros, traveling from distant lands across the Dead Waters Isthmus in the frozen north beyond the Blue Mountains. The aging Grand Monarch is increasingly worried that these foreigners are testing Eyrian combat skill and readiness, and he has posted more of Zhalccu province's forces near the Blue Mountains part of the border, worried that a foreign invasion may be coming in the near future. The Grand Monarch harbors suspicions that the Sultan of Indracca has been trying to garner aid in freeing the declining Sultanate from inevitable Eyrian rule.....
The Gladiator Arena's of Eyros are the domain of a number of competing 'Training Stables' which are often owned by Nobles or even wealthy merchants and guilds. Stables provide food, housing and training for their gladiators. Contrary to popular belief not all Gladiators are slaves. Many are criminals spared execution or consignment to the military in order to fight in the arena, others are volunteers who pay for training in the stables and may choose when to fight. Of course there are also Free men unattached to any stable who sign up to fight, the Stable Owners can however refuse such challenges but not those of another registered Stable. The Dracheschatten runs a large stable with its own training barracks (uner Taljik patronage) and champions in three different arena's across the empire. It is also this group that has been sponsoring many (though not all) of the Mo'ahhi, Nientese and O'hoa'ti gladiators.
Arbiters of the arcaneum surveilling the gladiatorial contests currently debate if D´achao is using magics to help in his battles (as said earlier magic besides arms and armor is forbidden in duels). None of his opponents complained, as crying foul without reason results in fines and nobody is sure enough. At the moment the arbiters consider to send for a wizard able to watch the entire duel with arcane sight spells.
The Zarthalts are dangerous predators which, despite Eyros's usual reverence for reptiles, are hunted ruthlessly. This is because of their tendency to make the Eyrian wilderness dangerous for passers-by. Although it begins its life as an unintelligent quadrapedal saurial creature which looks like a Velociraptor on Earth, the Zarthlat has a powerful gaze that hypnotises onlookers into staring into its eyes slack-jawed. As they do so, it slowly drains their intellect and mind, distorting until it stands bipedally as a wicked monstrous humanoid with vague fragments of the memories of the victim. Meanwhile, the victim's hands become feet, and they hunch forward onto four legs, distorting and becoming an animal in mind and body. The transformed Zarthalt enjoys eating human flesh, and perhaps the only small comfort is that the creature is sometimes unable to effectively make attacks against the loved ones of the mind that it has drained, standing dazed.
