#it's just wild that the fate of a whole nation rested on the deep compassion and kindness of these two not-quite-humans | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

nicolewrites · 4 years

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my heart, a spinning arrow

introspective thoughts led to this. i’m tired, but i need to write more claude.

Rating: T Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Friendship Characters: Claude von Riegan & Byleth Eisner & Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd & Edelgard von Hresvelg Words: 3,203

After the Battle at Gronder Field, Claude contemplates the path that has led here and the one that leads forward.

AO3

The fire in the Knight’s Hall is almost burnt to embers. Claude takes a drink from his flask and stares into the flickering orange glow. The flask is almost empty and he pauses, placing it down on the table in front of him as he leans forward, resting his arms on his knees. He stabs the poker into the fire, flipping the log and rejuvenating the fading flames. He places the power back down on the table in front of him and pushes his hands through his hair, exhaling slowly.

He’s wearing only a loose beige shirt and simple trousers. He had dropped his armour off with the smith after the battle and hasn’t returned to pick it up yet. He pulls his hands back and stares at the white scars on his wrists, palms, and fingertips. They seem to glow against the darkness of his skin.

Years of archery have given him rough calluses and more than a few of his scars are from simple mishandling of sharp arrows in battle. He still hasn’t rid his hands of their tremors completely even after years of watching his hand-fletched arrows sink into throats and arms and chests. He’s a master of finding the small gaps in armour, but he wishes he wasn’t.

This isn’t what he had intended when he had come to Fódlan. He had intended to bolster relationships with the Kingdom and the Empire and the Alliance using tricks and pretty words to knock down barriers and open the continent to the world. He had intended to strip away stereotypes and build a new, better world.

Now, instead, he has the blood of his old classmates on his hands.

Claude had hoped, futilely, that Dimitri might just stay dead after the Empire captured Fhirdiad. Of course, he could never be so lucky.

The chilling words Dimitri had shrieked a Gronder, a perfect pinnacle of a madman, still echo in Claude’s ears. Gronder had been kill or be killed and the way that Dimitri had advanced made that clear enough. He had advanced without mercy and cut down soldiers clothed in red and yellow without even flinching. Dimitri’s strength had been formidable and his army was relentless and Claude had known that he could not leave the Kingdom’s king to his own efforts.

It had taken four arrows to even slow Dimitri down and Claude knows, sitting in front of the fire now, that the only reason he’s still alive is because the rest of Dimitri’s classmates had not been as crazy as him.

Dimitri, wounded as he was, never made it to Edelgard before the Adrestian Emperor retreated. According to Hilda, he had certainly pursued her after the battle. Edelgard had at least been smart enough to retreat when she had been defeated, but Claude could not say the same for the King of Faerghus.

He still remembers the way that Edelgard had looked at him when he had flown over her, arrow knocked in Failnaught and aimed in her general direction. He had called her lovely and she had told him to leave.

Claude’s first shot had missed, but his second hadn’t. Only his practiced flight maneuvers had saved his life against her supernatural counter abilities. It had only taken two more shots, one imbued with the true power of his Relic, to send Edelgard on the retreat.

Claude had had the shot for the final blow, a perfect chink in her armour to bury his yellow-fletched arrow, but he couldn’t unsee Edelgard standing in the Cathedral during their time at the academy. She would stare angrily at the statue of Saint Seiros as if it was the cause of all of her problems. Claude doesn’t think she ever knew that he had followed her.

He understands her more than he wants to admit: her anger at the church, at the systems of Fodlan, even her methods to an extent.

In Almyra, conquest is the way of the world. Lords fight and kill for shreds of land and power and brothers and sisters turn on each other for the chance to rule. Claude understands war. It has shadowed him his whole life, but that does not mean that he agrees with Edelgard’s methods.

He does not agree with the fact that it means they must bear arms against people they had once considered friends. He does not agree with the fact that it means that it was him, not some Imperial soldier, who had put Dimitri out of his misery. He will take this secret to his grave if he has too.

Hilda knows because she saw him take the shot and she has covered for him. Hilda claims that it had been a sick twist of fate when Dimitri had pursued Edelgard that had brought the King of Faerghus to his unfortunate end. Her eyes study his face every time she repeats the lie.

Claude should have let him go and get cut down by the Imperial Army. Instead, in some twisted sense of pity and righteousness, it had been an arrow fired from Failnaught that found Dimitri’s throat and put an end to the mad prince. He sees it as a clean ending to an unfortunate life and a neat way to usher Fódlan to a new future.

That does not mean he does not regret it.

He had dropped Failnaught immediately after taking the shot, disgusted with himself, and only Hilda’s insistence that they draw back to the rest of the army had saved him from getting swarmed over by Imperial soldiers. She had carried the Relic almost all the way back to command for him when he had been unable to lay his hands on it.

The flames crack in front of him, drawing him back to the present, and Dimitri’s voice echoes in his head again. Claude wonders if Edelgard knows what he has done. He wonders if she would congratulate him or scorn him for his actions. She would have no right to do either, he reasons with himself.

Not with the way she had left Bernadetta and Petra to die.

Claude himself had never been particularly close to Bernadetta, but she was a quick and accurate shot, he had known that from archery competitions back at the academy. Unfortunately for Bernadetta, Edelgard had been content to leave her on the centre hill to draw fire. Raphael hadn’t even made it all the way to the centre hill before the Empire set it aflame.

Raphael had returned to base after the battle with a stony expression and a bloodied and burned body clutched in his arms. Leonie had helped him bury her and had reported to Claude later that her fatal injuries had come from the explosion, not any of the attacks from the Kingdom or Alliance.

Petra had been quick enough at least to dodge the explosion on the centre hill, but her evasion had placed her right in Claude’s path. His stomach twists and he digs his nails into his scalp as he recalls the shadow of his wyvern falling over the Brigid Princess.

She had taught him to climb trees five years ago and he had taught her to fly on a wyvern. She had not been afraid of him at that moment and it had only been the live or die instinct he had cultivated in himself since he was a child that had let him loose the arrow.

Petra had taken the blow and from him and Claude had had an opening to finish the job, but he had been unable to shoot again. He could only remember the laughs they had shared through his misadventures of falling out of trees and their honest discussion about nature and the nature of gods. She had pulled back, wounded and bleeding, with wild eyes filled with a fear that made him sick to his stomach even now.

Claude wants to yank his own hair out in his frustration. He has been trying to reduce the appearance of Almyrans as war-thirsty villains and he knows that having the princess of a foreign nation be afraid of him will not help with that fact when it comes time for him to claim the throne from his father. It will not help his Fódlan relations either for his friends to see him as the thoughtless killer he looked like.

Although, with the way this war keeps panning out, Claude sometimes wonders if he’ll have any friends left at all at the end of the war. The Golden Deer, once innocent and chaotic and fun, are splintering, shattered by the burdens of the heavy war they’ve been fighting for five years. Claude can see it in all of them: the bone-deep weariness that accompanies every swing of a weapon and every new scar earned.

His friends from the Kingdom are already gone. Gronder Field had seen to that. Annette, apparently, was lost in the five years of in-fighting between the Kingdom Loyalists and the Faerghus Dukedom. Ashe was burned in the fires of Ailell when he fell with House Rowe. Mercedes had fallen to Ignatz’s arrows at Gronder. Sylvain had buckled under the force of Lysithea’s magic. Felix had met his end by Leonie’s spear.

Claude had shot Ingrid out of the sky and left her for Hilda to finish off.

Dedue had vanished into the chaos of the battle, but Claude is not hopeful. One man, alone, who is anger-addled and revenge-filled does not stand a hope against the might of the Empire.

Claude lifts his head, dropping his hands to his lap and stares, dead-eyed at the flickering fire in front of him. The Kingdom will have died with Dimitri. If he fails now, stumbles at Edelgard’s doorstep, then the Alliance will follow the Kingdom down, as history has always dictated.

He drinks from his flask quickly enough that he nearly chokes on the burn of the liquor as he tosses it back. He has run the flask dry by now, drinking away the grief he tries to stave off with a well-timed joke or a sarcastic comment. He wonders if anyone sees through him.

Lorenz, maybe, at the worst of times, and Hilda, perhaps, at his best.

Claude has never been good at dealing with death. As a child, his mother told him story after story to desensitize him to the horrors of combat and the worlds that both of his ancestors originated from. It never worked. Instead, he found himself pitying both sides and grieving for people he had never met. His compassion had never been beaten out of him, as hard as some of his step-siblings may have tried.

Maybe that is why it hurts so much, even hours or days or weeks later, to know that old classmates have fallen and will fall. Maybe that’s why his hands are still sticky with Dimitri’s blood even though he had given the king a death that did not prolong his suffering.

He wants to kill Edelgard. He wants to bury an arrow in her heart and have her fall down dead and he wants the war to be over, but Claude is tired of fighting. He wants to find Rhea and ask her all the questions burning on his tongue, to know the truth of the Church of Seiros and the Relics and the Crest system and the eternally mysterious Professor who rose from the dead after five years of “sleeping”.

It’s as if he summons her, just by thinking of her. Her green hair, as faint as starlight, catches his eye from the corner of the hall where she stands, just inside the door as if she’s waiting for an invitation.

Claude leans back on the couch, trying to hide his weariness as he shoots her a smile. “Teach,” he says in greeting.

She steps closer. “Mind if I join you?”

“Depends on if you brought a drink,” he jokes.

He’s not serious, but the professor pulls her own flask from her belt and tosses it to him as she crosses the room. Claude fumbles, almost dropping it, but he calms his shaky hands by the time she reaches him and sinks into the couch next to him, staring into the fire in the same way that he had.

Claude unscrews the top on the flask and takes a swig. Her liquor is cheaper than his own and he resists the urge to wince as he drinks. He lowers the flask from his mouth and hands it off to her. She drinks easily, without even the twitch of her eyebrow. Claude barely catches the monogrammed ‘JE’ on the bottom of the flask while she drinks and he knows then why it is so easy for her.

“It’s strange to see you without your armour,” she comments quietly, staring at her hands where she clutches the flask.

He studies her face. As always, she is hard to read, but he can at least see the grief that is heavy in her expression. When they had met, she had been a blank slate. Now, he knows her well enough to see the edges of pain that she so desperately tries to conceal.

“It needs fixing. Figured there was no point in delaying when we need to start planning on how we’re going to hit Fort Merceus.”

“Tomorrow,” she says, cutting him off.

He blinks. “What?”

“We can start planning tomorrow,” she finishes. “I don’t want to think about fighting anymore tonight.”

“You know, Teach,” he says, “I never thought you’d be the one to tell me to stop working.”

She lifts her head, narrowing her eyes at him. “I drop by your room almost every day to tell you to get a reasonable amount of sleep.”

“And how much of that is completely hypocritical?” he counters easily.

She doesn’t rise to his jab and takes another drink from her father’s flask. They’re both silent for a moment as she swallows and slowly screws the squeaking cap back onto the top of the flask. She places it down on the table in front of them with a dull thud and picks up the fire poker. She pushes on one of the logs until it crumbles with a hiss and there’s a puff of smoke before the fire starts to fall apart, returning to embers.

“I should have killed her today,” the professor says without prompting.

Claude knows who she’s talking about. “I had the shot and I didn’t take it,” he confesses.

She looks at him, her green eyes glowing silver from the warm light of the fire. She looks almost ethereal in the orange glow. She is stunningly beautiful and always has been, but since her transformation after the Sealed Forest, there is something starkly otherworldly and unsettling about the way that she looks.

“I never would have asked you to,” she admits simply.

“Then don’t attempt to carry the burden of that by yourself,” he argues.

She shakes her head. “No, Claude, when we get to Enbarr, I will kill Edelgard myself.”

She draws the hunting dagger that is at her side at all times and flips it in her hand casually. The hilt is roughly bound in well-worn leather, but the blade is polished steel. She has carried the blade for as long as he has known her, but he has never once seen her use it.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I want to.”

The three words are simple and chilling. Claude hesitates on his reply long enough that she sheaths her knife and drums her fingers over her leg like she is nervous. She does not look at him. He is unsure of how to tell her that he feels the same. That he felt the same when he killed Dimitri just hours earlier.

In the quiet moment that extends between them, there are so many things he wants to say to her. He wants to tell her about all of his doubts about the Church. He wants to confess his true upbringing. He wants to show her the faded healing scars on his hands and wrists and say which ones were his fault and which were the fault of others.

“Are you afraid of dying?” he asks instead.

“No,” she replies immediately. “At least, not usually.” She flexes the fingers of one hand and Claude swears that they sparkle with yellow light for a moment, but it is probably a trick of the lighting.

“I’m terrified of dying,” he admits. “There is so much left to be done and if I die, where does that leave any of this?”

She looks at him and he is taken aback by the warmth that lingers in her eyes. “I will not let you die.”

His lips twitch at the sentiment. It’s reassuring to hear from her, the woman who is a one-man army all on her own, but even she can’t stop what might happen in the coming days, especially with the plan that has been floating in his brain for several weeks.

“What would the goddess think of such words?” he asks, knowing full well that she knows he does not believe in the goddess like most of his former classmates do.

“I am inclined to believe I have the goddess on my side,” she says simply.

She is still looking at him and he does not doubt her. He never has.

“Alright then, Teach,” he says, nodding. “No dying for me.”

“Claude.”

She touches his wrist and his hand turns into her touch instinctively. Her thumb skitters over the skin on the underside of his wrist and up over the exposed part of his palm. She traces a bruise and a bump on his palm from a few bad draws on the field today and a knick on his thumb from the reigns of his wyvern.

She squeezes his hand and he feels her reassurance and her nervousness in the touch. This is not about the future of the nation: this is about the future of two young people who are just trying to survive.

“Byleth.”

He doesn’t often use her name, forgoing it for the sake of an affectionate and familiar nickname, but the moment calls for it. He tightens his own grip on her hand and nudges his knee against hers. He admires, for a moment, the dark of his skin against the fairness of hers and wonders what it would be like to hold her completely.

“We will be defined by this war as long as we are alive,” she points out, staring at their joined hands. “But we needn’t let it write the path to our future.”

“You lead,” he suggests. “I’ll follow.” When she frowns, he squeezes her hand. “I trust you.”

They don’t talk about Gronder Field or Fort Merceus or much of anything for the rest of the night, but when Byleth finally peels herself away to get some sleep, Claude feels the warmth of her hand linger in his and he can almost imagine a future filled with light instead of one darkened by war and memories of the dying screams of old friends.

It’s a reassuring thought.

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deadciv · 7 years

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i tried to make a world that kept to a lot of the typical dnd mainstays (gods, fiends, dragons, etc) while also adapting theire purpose and their role in the world. i also enjoyed making up a whole bunch of factions and countries, although not all of that is actually on here. mostly i enjoyed making my definitely tyrannical probably evil (right?) draconic empire that once ruled the world and still rules a considerable portion to the north, despite the ire of pretty muc everyone. something appealing about creating a group that pretty much everyone loathes, you know?

Arc

5th Edition D&D Campaign

Though Arc is only a continent, for its denizens, it seems to be the whole world. The oceans to the north, south, west, and east are largely impassable, buffeted by storms, roiling with undersea horrors, and tinged by strange magic. But the continent itself holds more than enough wonders and dangers for any adventurer: The magically charged and monstrously teeming Wilds stretching endlessly to the northeast, the pirate-infested volcanoes and jungles of the archipelago to the southwest, and the war-torn lands of Kse full of robber barons and petty warlords in the midwest are only a few of the many dangerous and challenging places adventurers can find themselves in. Whether navigating the treacherous seas between the elven islands of Makkar and Amemno or the equally treacherous political landscape of the draconic Gashao-Rex Empire, there is always an opportunity for the willing, the able, the foolish, and the dangerous.

In this campaign, players will take up the mantle of these intrepid (or, once again, perhaps merely foolish) adventurers, endeavoring to defeat monsters, destroy or enforce tyranny, save or damn nations, factions, and individuals alike, unravel conspiracies, uncover cosmic mysteries, and generally make their mark upon the world. How Arc looks after your adventures is up to you, and Fate.

Players will begin as recruits, or conscripts, to the world-renowned Ipares Academy, located in the up and coming southwestern power of Revare. Though Ipares’ practices of taking recruits by force are now in the past, and the accusations of it being a state-run black ops institute have died down, ill circumstances—accidentally killing someone with magic in your hometown, stealing from a powerful lord, vandalizing a well-renowned temple—are just as likely to have brought you to Ipares as your own ambitions and desires. Regardless of how you got here, you are here because the powers that be at the Academy have seen something in you, some spark of potential, which sets you apart from your peers, for Ipares accepts only the best. At Ipares, you will be tested to your limit, and you will likely watch peers die—but by the end of your training, you will have the skills to enter the world of true adventuring.

This packet attempts to give a broad overview of the world and some pertinent details, but is not exhaustive; please do not hesitate to ask me for clarification or if you think your character would have more information than is listed here (they almost certainly do). Hopefully, this will be good fun for everyone involved, and I welcome feedback in making it such.

Note: You do not need to, nor are you expected to, read all of this to play this campaign. There are so many words. Like, so many. This is for your reference, and please, please feel free to ask me any questions you might have. I won’t care if they’re on the handout. At all. Read what you think might be relevant to your character and nothing else if you like. I love and appreciate you.

A. General History

Few, even the long-lived elves, seem to know what the world looked like before the coming of the dragons. The first event in recorded history is always thus: The arrival of the dragons, with their slave army of tieflings, aasimar, and dragonborn, and the rapid, brutal conquest of Arc at their hands. The Gashao-Rex Empire ruled the world for over a thousand years, their imperial family and council set in the ironically named capital city of Arc, ruling all the known world save the Wilds and the elven islands of Makkar and Amemno. It was not until 350 years ago, after the empire had been shaken by a massive undead incursion at the hands of a mad necromancer, that rebellion began to successfully foment, and even so, it took fifty years for the south to throw off the chains of the empire. Before any further fighting could occur, some force split the areas of Arc controlled by the dragons and the areas controlled by the rebels through powerful magic, ending the aptly named Breaching War abruptly. The northwest, known as Se, remains controlled by the empire, while the remainder of the continent, known as Sa, is a mish-mash of various nations, interests, and wild places. Today, unrest has begun to foment again, but it is impossible to say what chaos will erupt first.

I. Deities

There are three primary deities, as known by the people of the continent of Arc. Sen: Goddess of the Now. Sah: Goddess of the Then. Ses: Goddess of the Next. Broadly, they are considered deities of Truth and Reality, and are acknowledged, if not worshipped, by all. It is said they oversaw the creation of the world, and that they will oversee its end, someday. Some claim that they are actually one Goddess, in aspects of three, while others insist they are separate but equal, pushing and pulling against each other but ruling equally in their own way. Whatever it is, there is a strong focus on truth and objective reality around their worship and in broad cultural understanding, and great value is placed on education, history, and discovery. The actual truth of this truth can always be disputed, but the claims are always strongly made. The goddesses themselves, however, are not known to directly intervene in any way, ever. Their only direct presence in the world is through three Oracles, one for each goddess: But only the Chronicle, Oracle of the Past, stands on Arc, in the depths of old dragon territory. Faith insists the others exist, but no one really knows for certain where they are or what secrets they hold.

The other deities of Arc are both more knowable and less straightforward. They are ‘Aspects’ of the Goddesses, each representing its own set of beliefs and values. They represent both the darkest and the lightest that society has to offer, and have personalities and make decisions as though they were their individuals—but all flow from the Goddesses. More exist, but below are the best known.

Ischa: Known as ‘The Consoler’, Ischa is the patron of compassion, sorrow, and loss. She values mourning, reflection, and the bittersweet in-between spaces of sapient emotion.

Ische: The other side of the coin made by Ischa, Ische (known as ‘The Unwavering’) is often conceptualized as her brother. He represents the more active components of loss and grief: Dedication and obsession, justice and vengeance. He values action, response, and dedication to the cause; determination and fixation are both within his realm of patronage.

Revus: Revus, ‘The Upright’, is the patron of order, law, and honor. He values standing by one’s word, refusing to compromise, and acting for the ‘greater good’.

Saitsen: Saitsen, ‘The Bondless’, is the patron of freedom, chaos, and impulse. She values action by instinct, the destruction of created things and ideological structures, and the ability to choose for oneself. Often depicted as a former lover of Revus.

Ansile: Known as ‘The Impassioned’, Ansile is the patron of deep emotion, community, and beauty. They value desire, togetherness, artistic expression, and sacrifice on the behalf of others.

Anselm: Known as ‘The Detached’, Anselm is seen as the sibling of Ansile and is the patron of the mind, solitude, and simplicity. They value knowledge and understanding, personal enlightenment, control of emotions, and a plainness in presentation and lifestyle.

Kaeko: Kaeko, ‘The Vibrant’, is seen as the patron of life, growth, and creation. She values the natural order of things, change, the preservation of life, and hard work towards growth and goals.

Nephene: Nephene, ‘The Absolute’, is the patron of death, endings, and dissolution. She values things meeting their proper end, respect for the dead and the ending it signifies, and acceptance of fate. Often seen as the star-crossed lover of Kaeko.

Akamne: Known as ‘The Serene’, Akamne is the patron of peace, stillness, and vulnerability. He values humility, composure, compromise, and sacrifice.

Zuhar: Known as ‘The Turbulent’, Zuhar is the patron of conflict, action, and strength. He values doing battle, power and its seizure, decisiveness, and striving for goals and greatness, and is seen as the former lover of Akamne.

Aside from Goddesses, the Aspects, and the celestials that represent them, there are a number of other powerful beings that have carved out their own niches within different parts of the cosmos. These include the Fae, devils of the Nine Hells, and demons of the Abyss, though others may exist. Though they do not have the power of the Aspects, they nonetheless hold important places within the cosmos outside of the material world, and they have been known to affect the material plane in a number of ways.

II. Climate and Topography

Arc itself is a sizable place, split into two subcontinents—Se and Sa—after the cataclysmic, and little understood, end of the Breaching War three hundred years ago. This also led to some of Arc’s strangest features: The dead, sandy, rocky coastlines of Se and Sa, facing each other, the bizarre arcane eddies currents that flow through the Sand Sea between the two subcontinents, and the massive crack known as the Scar said to be where the spell that caused the splitting of the continent to take place. Since Arc rests near the equator, with about four fifths of it below, much of it experiences wet, humid weather, and rain forests are common. However, Arc is typically not as hot or wet as other equatorial areas typically are, possibly due to the same cataclysmic forces that split the continent, which may have created the faint, sheeny haze that frequently obscures the sun from much of Arc. All the same, Arc tends to get colder the in the south and warmer in the north, although a wide assortment of very high and very low altitudes mixed with bizarre, unexplainable weather patterns have made it difficult to predict the nature of a particular region’s climate. Additionally, distinct from our own world, the night skies of Arc are filled with only a moon and four stars.

III. Nations, Cultures, and Factions

The Amemno Republic

Location: Amemno (Island)

Capital(s): Alarro, Mnejir, Zhataa

Races: Predominantly elven with small enclaves of other races in the capitals. Unlike Makkar, elves from Amemno tend to have woody hues to their skin: Rosewood or yew or ebony or oaken, and remarkably diverse.

Government: Representative republic (triumvirate council, two legislative chambers)

Peaceful but defensive; greatly value equality, honesty, and civic/group responsibility

Religion: Primary deity Akamne, acknowledgement of other Aspects existent and allowed but not culturally prevalent.

Cata

Location: Mid-southwestern Sa

Capital(s): Thesh

Races: Human (forty percent), halfling (twenty percent), elven (five percent), dwarven (fifteen percent), mixed (ten percent), other (ten percent).

Government: Monarchy/oligarchy with meritocratic elements

Culture: Catan culture values pragmatism, self-interest, thinking ahead, and prudence.

Religion: Official religion Separatism, significant Syncretist minority

Gashao-Rex Empire

Location: Se (Entirety)

Capital(s): Arc

Races: All, excepting possibly gnomes. Largest amount of dragons on Arc (equaling approx. three percent of total population, if all ages included). Thirty-two percent human, nine percent elven, ten percent dragonborn, two percent tiefling, three percent aasimar, ten percent halfling, twenty-five percent dwarf, five percent mixed or other.

Government: Council of ancient dragons and a draconic imperial family, empress at the head, cascading hierarchy of heads of provinces and cities and so on

Culture: Rigidly hierarchical, with each individual or group belonging to one or more interlocking castes and rankings, but with heavy valuation on ambition and power/merit; fighting for power is common and accepted.

Religion: Worship of the Aspects is no longer permitted within the empire, although this has never stamped it out entirely. Though the empress and the imperial family are not presented as gods, per se, they are nonetheless presented as though they possess a measure of divine power and authority. The Goddesses, however, remain, acknowledged and respected but never quite worshipped, though with the lack of the Aspects as outlets for worship, cults of the Goddesses are more common inside the empire than outside of it.

Kyouko-Arame

Location: Southern Sa

Capital(s): Avaris-Ko/Kyouko (interchangeable)

Races: Humans, dwarves, elves, and halflings all at about fifteen percent each. Largest population of dragons outside of the empire, but still statistically negligible. About one percent for gnomes (of which there are a surprising amount, more than anywhere else in the civilized world), five percent each for dragonborn, aasimar, and tieflings. Large (up to as many as twenty percent) population of mixed individuals, about four percent other.

Government: Direct democracy (through use of magic) overseen by Prelate, an ancient and magically powerful silver dragon

Culture: Kyouko-Arame endeavors to be everything Gashao-Rex is not: Free, cosmopolitan, focused less on personal gain and power and more on art, knowledge, and cultural achievements

Religion: The home of Syncretism. Philosophers and clerics from Kyouko pushed against Revaren Separatist ideals about the individual nature of the Aspects, and their fighting soon precipitated a split in the newly founded religion, about 200 years ago. However, all religious faiths are welcome within the city, including Separatism, and nearly every deity of any kind has a shrine or temple of some sort.

Kse

Location: Southwestern Sa

Capital(s): Sha

Races: Humans (forty percent), halflings (twenty-two percent), dwarves (twenty percent), elves (ten percent), and other (eight percent)

Government: Loose federation of nobles and powerful people controlling the countryside and a margrave controlling Sha; not terribly organized or centralized and subject to constant shifts in power.

Culture: Kse has little when it comes to shared culture, aside from desperation. Resource-poor, subject to dangerous weather and visits from a whole host of dangerous sea creatures, and devastated by the Breaching War and by constant small or large scale fighting ever since, Kse is barely considered a country by its neighbors.

Religion: Separatism is the most common religious belief in Kse, coming from Revare to the south, although Syncretism has gained some foothold as well. However, a kind of mishmash is also very common, especially in the country, with commoners combining elements of both traditions and worshipping individual Aspects to the exclusion of all others.

Makkar

Location: Makkar (island), off southeast Sa

Capital(s): Alam

Races: Elven. Though there are small embassies of creatures from other nations, the Makkar are distrustful of outsiders, and though many leave their home on their ships to see other lands, they rarely allow outsiders the opportunity to see their cities or culture. Elves from Makkar tend to have a blue tinge to their skin, most rather light, though some have shades that are more striking, bright blues or even deeper shades.

Government: Monarchy heading up a complex clan system. The monarchy is not hereditary, and any clan is permitted to submit its leader or another member as a candidate for the role upon the monarch’s death. Individual clans and clan leaders make many of the choices as to how things are run in their area, with the monarch only given power over foreign diplomacy, declarations of war, and a veto vote (that can be overcome) in clan conclaves.

Culture: The people of Makkar value honor, discipline, the rule of law, and glory in battle. At the same time, they are very distrustful of individuals gaining too much power, and ensure that everyone fits and is content with their particular role so as to encourage as much stability and (a certain kind of) personal liberty as possible.

Religion: Primary deity Zuhar, acknowledgement of other Aspects existent and allowed but not culturally prevalent. Neither Syncretism nor Separatism have much influence. Formal religion surrounding Zuhar, with the Goddesses creating him as their primary envoy to the world, though they also have developed a great respect for Revus.

The Monae/Monae Lands

Location: Eastern Sa

Capital(s): None

Races: Predominantly goliaths. The Monae tribes themselves are comprised entirely of goliaths. However, the monks that live in many of the larger monasteries and smaller communes, as well as the hermit ascetics, welcome people of all races.

Government: The Monae are a tribal culture, with no centralized leader. Each tribe does things slightly differently, although typically there is a tribal chief or council of some kind. The monasteries are equally diverse in the way they do things.

Culture: Though each individual tribe or monastery has its own cultural practices, and most would claim them to be significant from those around them, those living within the Monae lands do share a few common threads. The tribes are known for a fierce independence and utter unwillingness to bend or break to anyone, warlike tendencies that lead them to consistently raid nearby settlements and fight with one another, a deep respect for nature and connection to it, as well as a strong pride for their tribe and people that leads to a strong communal dimension in their culture.

Religion: Each Monae tribe holds different beliefs, but they share a common awe for nature and worship for the power the world itself holds. They do not worship the Aspects, and they see the Goddesses (as deities, that is) as no more than outlander superstition. The monks hold a wide range of beliefs, but their search for spiritual enlightenment within our own bodies cares little for gods or demons, and thus few monasteries have anything resembling a cosmology, caring little in lieu of finding a truer power within.

Revare/The Free Peoples of Revare

Location: Southwestern Sa

Capital(s): Ides

Races: Humans (fifty percent), halflings (twenty percent), dwarves (ten percent), elves (five percent), goliaths (one percent), mixed (nine percent), other (five percent). The most human-dominated nation in Arc.

Government: Monarchy with some representational elements. Hereditary monarchy dating back to the Breaching War, with the former leader of Revare’s rebellion taking the crown and passing it along to his daughter. Representational elements evident in a parliamentary council elected by consensus of elected officials in each district. Monarch retains the ability to veto legislation and also has procedures to override their decisions in particular circumstance, as well as broad jurisdiction over foreign relations.

Culture: Revarens are known for valuing enterprise, individuality, rule of law, hard-work, and propriety.

Religion: Revare is the original home of Separatism. Cropping up in the midst of the Breaching War, the individualistic strain of Aspect-veneration supported by the Revarens soon parted ways with the more holistic interpretation put forth by many from Kyouko-Arame. Though other religions are technically permitted, Separatism stands as the state religion, and wields considerable cultural and political power. Its emphasis on individuality and personal responsibility have also been very heavily integrated into Revaren society, and Separatism has been accused of being a tool of Revaren cultural expansion.

The Suarathi Island States

Location: On the Merktes Archipelago off of western Arc, stretching from near northern Se to near mid-western Sa.

Capital(s): Ipsis, Ekla, Dest, Amne, Sekt

Races: Original homeland of halflings, and still predominantly made up of them (sixty percent). However, trade, emigration, and immigration has also brought large numbers of other races, with humans (fourteen percent) and dwarves (nine percent) having notable populations. Additionally, elves (three percent) have a presence.

Government: The Suarathi have no centralized government, instead organizing themselves into a series of city-states and their surrounding areas. Each city state has its own traditions, governmental practices, and quirks, and none are beholden to any other, though there is extensive trade and cooperation.

Culture: The Suarathi tend to value friendliness, working together, appreciation for the gifts of life, flexibility, and humor. They value free expression of emotion and place great emphasis on its healthy channeling and externalizing.

Religion: The Suarathi worship all the Aspects, including some that few outside of the isles have heard of. Religion is, for them, a highly personal affair between an individual and the Aspects, and thus there is little formal doctrine or theology involved.

Ipares Academy

An academy/training school in Revare that trains both scholars and inventors as well as adventurers. Accused of being an arm of Revaren state power.

The Teeth

The Teeth are group of assassins and infiltrators aligned with Gashao-Rex. They are entirely non-draconic, and focus on destabilizing the other nations.

Syncretism

Syncretism, more formally known as ‘The Path of the Whole’, is a religion based in Kyouko-Arame focused on the belief that the Aspects are part of a greater whole. Syncretism believes that the actions of all beings are connected, and that everything is part of a greater whole mediated by both the Goddesses and the ultimate fate of the universe.

Separatism

Separatism, known officially as ‘The Heterodoxy’, is a religion based in Revare focused upon the status of the Aspects, the Goddesses, and every being as freely choosing individuals. Separatism is very careful to worship the Aspects as separate entities, and sets aside specific numbers of priests to focus on each deity.

The Scalawags (The Seabound Scalawags and Scoundrels of Se and Sa)

The Scalawags are a loosely affiliated group of pirates, smugglers, and other ne’er-do-wells who make their homes among the many islands, large and small, of the Merktes Archipelago.

The Unsmiling

The Unsmiling are an order of individuals of various provenance hailing from the Suarathi city states, trained in a variety of dangerous and secret skills. In contrast to the generally jovial and emotionally open nature of Suarathi society as a whole, the Unsmiling forswear emotion of any kind.

The Terriers

The Terriers fight for the freedom, independence, and unification of Kse. Though they are varied in disposition, methods, and short-term goals, they all ultimately seek the goal of a Kse brought to life.

The Ashen

Also known as gravehunters, the Ashen dedicate themselves to rooting out undeath in the world of arc. Though originating and based in the desolate wastes of the Dragon’s Desert, the Ashen can be found the world over.

Ferals

Though most are greatly intelligent beings appreciating culture, civilized society, and its various pursuits, dragons nonetheless do possess certain feral, animalistic instincts. Some have elected to give in to these, leaving the rigid hierarchy of Gashao-Rex for other parts of the world, endeavoring either to live as powerful beasts, rulers of the wilds in whatever corner they carve out, or as petty masters of small groups of sapient beings.

The Circle of the Land

This circle is a loose society encompassing many of the druids who live across Arc. Though they follow their own paths and most druids have a certain independence by nature, and there are many druids who do not belong to the society, the Circle nonetheless encompasses much of the impetus to worship and protect nature through its magic in the world.

The Circle of the Moon

The Circle of the Moon is little more than a rumor, a tale of beast men and women to frighten or excite peasant children. However, for hundreds of years, even before the Breaching War, whispers of individuals—sometimes alone, sometimes in packs—who lived as wolves, as bears, as tigers, but could walk as humanoids, have filtered through the lands of Arc.

The Stormers

Divided into two separate orders, that of the Stormweathers and that of the Stormwardens, the Stormers are one of the immutable realities of Makkar. Around as long as anyone can remember, the Stormers have a twofold purpose: To explore the world and hunt down Makkar’s enemies and dangerous creatures, and to protect Makkar from the massive, volatile, and potentially civilization-destroying storms that threaten to ravage the island.

Koru

Koru, meaning ‘unity’, is the word used to describe the Amemno Republic’s extensive network of diplomats, merchants, and ambassadors by both Amemnans and outsiders. Koru walk the line between agents of the state and independent entities, going out into the world both on their own motivation and initiative and as well as on that of the Republic.

IV. Races

Humans: Humans, by virtue of being relatively short lived (having a life span of less than 100 years) and fast breeding, are the most numerous race on Arc. Every nation has at least a sizable population of humans, if not a plurality. Even places like Makkar or Amemno, which have smaller populations of humans and have not traditionally been human cultures, have watched their human populations slowly grow, grow, and grow. Humans have a number of stereotypes associated with them, such as over-ambitious or shortsighted, but their presence is accepted nearly everywhere. Humans are good at many things and bad at many more, but they tend to be seen as versatile and reckless, when thought is given to them. Humans, so far as anyone knows, have been on Arc as long as anyone.

Dragons: Though their numbers are relatively few, for a number of reasons including intentional extermination both during and after the loss of half their empire, a slow maturation rate, intense and often bloody competition, and the unwillingness of older dragons to allow too many young dragons join their ranks, dragons are nonetheless the best known and most feared sapient race on Arc. Dragons can live for hundreds of years, and strong evidence exists that several dragons still in power in the seat of Gashao-Rex have been alive since before the conquest of the continent. Two different types of dragons exist—chromatic and metallic—and each type has its own ascribed characteristics, but both have been involved in the conquest of Arc from the beginning. Chromatic dragons are typically seen as the warriors, the generals, the enforcers, and typically have more physical prowess, while metallics are seen as the administrators, spies, and diplomats and are typically more magically inclined, but both can shapeshift and both have done great and terrible things. However, chromatics are typically seen as more cruel and base than their metallic counterparts, who seek to rule with a steady, firm, guiding hand rather than with a fist. With the Breaching War, however, and the entry on the side of the rebels several dragons of note, the general opinion on dragons has become far more muddled, especially with the existence of the humanoid-draconid nation of Kyouko-Arame.

Halflings: Halflings, typically living about twice as long as humans at two hundred years, are known for being scrappy, dependable, and down to earth. They are known for appreciating simplicity over artifice, for enjoying lives as farmers and merchants and other ordinary folk much more readily than other races. However, they are also known for being uncommonly tenacious and unwilling to bend their own codes of conduct regardless of the circumstance, and halflings were often some of the first people to take up arms against the dragons and their tyranny. Alongside humans on Arc for as long as can be remembered, they are often the next most common race within a city or country.

Gnomes: Seen as an uncommon peculiarity throughout most of Arc, with no known primary population centers throughout the world, gnomes can live for nearly five hundred years and are often found wandering throughout the world, exploring new things and then disappearing back to wherever they came from. Gnomes were almost never seen during the age of dragons, with only one or two recorded mentions popping up, but have become a much more frequent sight over the last few hundred years. Though it is unknown to nearly all, gnomes do in fact have their own society, existing far in the wilds to the north in well-hidden and warded burrows and villages, but the powerful magic placed upon them by their elders as they leave prevents them from ever revealing, intentionally or against their will, the location or nature of gnomish society.

Elves: Elves stand, besides halflings and humans, as the next most common race throughout Arc. Though it is said that elves have not been here as long as halflings or humans, no one really knows where they came from or what difference it might make. However, the long lives of the elven people (up to nearly seven hundred years, at times) have caused them to form communities more lasting than some of their shorter-lived counterparts, as they attempt to create continuities even through the insanities and tempests of history. Elves typically have their own schools, villages or parts of a city, and individual cultural habits. However, many also intermarry with other races such as humans, and many spend their early lives living away from their fellows, exploring the world and using their long lives to see as much as possible. Supposedly connected to the Fae, they are also often seen in the more natural parts of the world and have a strong connection to it, and explorers to The Wilds are often groups of elves believing that their attunement to nature will allow them to succeed where few others have. Though there have always been some elves on the continent, most ultimately can trace their ancestry to Makkar and Amemno, and those of Makkar show a very different side, having long been warlike and insular, never allowing the full control of the dragons and being among the first to attack them openly in the Breaching War.

Dwarves: Said, like the elves, to not have lived on Arc for as long as humans or halflings, dwarves have nonetheless spent their time on Arc industriously. Living for about three hundred to four hundred years, dwarves were initially very insular, building their own cities and societies and letting few others near them as they carved out worlds for themselves under the earth. However, the coming of the dragons destroyed this way of life as they were thrown from their burrows and forced to integrate into surface life, made slaves to the dragons just like the surfacers they had long disdained. Though it took time to adjust, dwarves eventually turned their efforts to building lives above ground, often offering their renowned architectural and inventive services to the dragons in return for favor and allowances. However, the dwarves never forgot what had been done to them, and they were instrumental in tearing down the rule of the dragons when time finally came to end their reign. Today, they live in the cities they helped build or beautify, often remaining in their own cliques but always respected and valued for their contributions to the current state of the world—at least outside of Gashao-Rex, the site of their erstwhile homeland.

Goliaths: Goliaths are one of the few races to still typically make their homes away from broader society. With the possible exception of the Wilds to the north, the only true remaining bastions of goliath civilizations are in the Soutwilds in the south of Revare, and in the grassy, rocky highlands of the Monae that border the Wilds. They typically maintain a tribal culture, though those in the Soutwilds hold loose allegiance to the Revaren Senate housed in Ides. They have typically cared little for the machinations of dragons and nations, though they did join the rebels in fighting off the dragons once the war had begun, before returning to their forests and mountains once again.

Tieflings: Tieflings are not common throughout the nations of Arc. Arriving with the dragons on Arc some millennium and a half ago, they are thought to be descendants of devils (or fallen Aspects) who tricked or bargained their way into the beds of humanoids and are often seen as naturally deceitful or dangerous. They are rarely trusted and, outside the empire, tend to stay in small communities or wander alone.

Aasimar: Much like tieflings, aasimar are very uncommon throughout Arc, except in the heart of Gashao-Rex itself. Though their situation is much the same, with many being solitary wanderers, exiles, and outcasts and the rest being servants of the dragons, their celestial heritage makes them generally more trusted in humanoid nations. Their real origins are largely unknown, though much speculation about their supposed parentage through the Aspects runs rampant, but their outwardly ethereal nature makes them naturally notable.

Dragonborn: Seeming to be the children of dragons and humanoids, dragonborn are the most feared and reviled humanoid race in Arc. Few make any attempt to live in or even visit the nations outside of Gashao-Rex for fear of prejudice or harm, and those living outside of the empire live almost entirely in Kyouko-Arame or the Suarathi States. Dragonborn tend to stick together, living in their own societies with their own kind. Their continued status as foot soldiers to the dragons have made them even more insular, as they continue to experience distrust from nearly every quarter.

#despie being a whole bunch of words #this is super bare bones and is missing crucial stuff but since i've already dispensed that info to the players i won't add it in #suffice to say that interplanar travel doesn't exist and that there's no concept of different planes whatsoever #and that places like the nine hells or the abyss exist physically within the world #arc #tabletop stuff #long post

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