Yarel
From The world of Yarel
Contents |
[edit] Geography
Yarel is a world of three known continents, all separated by oceans.
[edit] The central continent
The central continent contains five main regions:
- The eastern country of Argatia, the most cosmopolitan and tolerant of the nations of the central continent.
- The western country of Espandor, shrouded in mystery, ritual and legend.
- Separating Argatia and Espandor are the Ridge Mountains, populated with nomadic barbarians. Technically this land belongs to Argatia but in all reality it is a no man's land.
- The southern country of Kornov, a harsh region that is part tropical jungle and part desert wasteland.
- The lawless northern region known as the Talon Mountains. Power here belongs to the strongest but there is no formal and stable form of government here.
[edit] The oriental continent
The oriental continent lies to the north of the central continent. It is currently overrun by the armies of the undead.
[edit] The eastern continent
Rumor has it that there is another landmass to the east of the central continent. This may be a false story or perhaps there is some truth to it?
[edit] Current events
[edit] The gravestrike war
The most prominent current event is the gravestrike war - the great crusade between the living inhabitants of the central continent and the undead of the oriental continent.
Argatia is the main supplier of troops to the crusades in the orient, it would seem that they have the greatest number of mage guilds and also the correct ideaology to fight the war.
[edit] The status of magic
The vast majority of arcane spellcasters are wizards, there are only a handful of known sorcerers and eldritch channellers in Yarel and these wielders of magical power have seemed to have appeared from nowhere.
[edit] Commoner's reactions
Magic (both arcane and divine) is still relatively new to the people of Yarel. Whilst it has now been taught for around 400 years, there are still plenty who have never seen magic or met a spellcaster. Some areas of the world are still superstitious, mistrusting and even fearful of magic. Those who are frightened do not understand how it works, what it looks like and what it is capable of.
In larger settlements wizards are usually treated either with respect (like a veteran soldier returning from a great war) or they are given a wide berth, the commoners not wanting to put themselves at risk by associating with a mage. Sorcerers and eldritch channellers' best scenario is either to be mistaken for a wizard or it is to conceal their magical talents in civilised areas. Most commoners would easily confuse a wizard and a sorcerer, but some may be even more fearful than they would be of a wizard.
Overall however, the people of Yarel are beginning to adapt and accept that magic exists, even if they do not understand it they appreciate that it is real, that people can use it and (usually) they do not consider it inherently dangerous.
[edit] Learning magic
Numerous mage guilds (as they have become known) have been set up in Yarel to teach magic to the common folk. These guilds, or schools of wizardry, were formed mainly as a response to the gravestrike war in order to arm the commoners with magic in order to fight the undead. Most of these guilds were formed on the central continent.
These guilds or schools of magic are generally quite secretive, introverted organisations that keep their students on their grounds for great lengths of time without visit to their families or friends. Many guilds are also secretive and go to great lengths to guard their knowledge. The mage guilds are quite open in their competition for favour of the ruling government, guilds that succeed in bringing about victory in the gravestrike war receive greater resource, funding and tenure.
Mage guilds' reactions to sorcerers and eldritch channellers has been greatly mixed, depending largely on the guild in question. A few guilds are interested in learning more about magic and how these other wielders of arcane power are able to do what they can do. Other guilds consider them an abomination and a taint to the essence of magic itself. Many guilds are genuinely not interested in sorcerers and channellers. It is the unpredictability of the guildmages that means that most sorcerers and channellers hide their talents in larger settlements and anywhere where the agents of the mage guilds could be.
[edit] See also
- In-character introduction to Yarel - a brief in-character description of the past 400 years. This is the baseline level of knowledge that everybody has about the world.
