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This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

--- operations:public:world_lore [2025/05/29 06:07] – created eric
+++ operations:public:world_lore [2025/06/13 04:27] (current) – [Other Realms and Peoples] eric
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-====== Kingdoms and Major Cities ======
+====== World Lore ======
-This page introduces the major political powers, cultures, and settlements of **Tala**, the known world of Volaire LARP. Use this information to help define your character’s origin, worldview, and potential ties to larger powers.
+This page serves as a living archive of the known world of **Volaire**, capturing its geography, culture, power structures, and historical roots. Whether you're a new player building your first backstory or a veteran seeking deeper connections to the setting, this guide is your gateway to understanding the world your character inhabits.
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-===== 🌍 The Continent of Tala =====
+===== The Continent of Tala =====
-Tala is a vast and fractured land—a single great continent surrounded by seas and dotted with lesser islands. Its terrain includes wind-swept deserts, treacherous mountain ranges, deep woods, and the ruins of forgotten civilizations.
+Tala is a vast and often unforgiving continent, shaped by elemental forces, arcane shifts, and political ambition. While precise maps are rare, the known land stretches across deserts, forests, mountains, and ruins—some reclaimed by nature, others still haunted by echoes of war and ritual.
-Much of the land is harsh and uninhabitable, but what remains is fiercely contested. The world has not been unified in centuries. Today’s empires and kingdoms rise from ash and ambition, each clinging to order in a world that remembers collapse.
+Tala consists of a **large central landmass** ringed by remote island chains, jagged archipelagos, and sunken remnants of old nations. The terrain can be deeply inhospitable, with more than half considered uninhabitable due to wild magic, ancient battlesites, and the still-corrupted influence of undeath and shadow.
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-===== 🏛 Political Powers =====
+===== The Ariadnian Empire =====
+The dominant human empire in western Tala, **Ariad** is a fractured yet enduring relic of a once-glorious civilization. Known for its diversity of arcane practices, its openness to unconventional power, and the ideological split between its major baronies, Ariad represents a chaotic balance between liberty and self-serving ambition.
-=== 🦅 The Ariadnian Empire ===
+==== Major Baronies ====
+The Empire is divided into three prominent baronies, each with its own leadership, identity, and interpretation of power:
-Once the crown jewel of the continent, the **Ariadnian Empire** is now a tenuous alliance of city-states and military provinces. Though weakened by internal power struggles and border instability, it remains one of the most influential powers on the continent.
+<WRAP center round box 100%>
+=== Seshtau ===
+Ruled from the necromantic capital of **Umbris**, Seshtau reveres power over life and death. Its people embrace undeath as a tool, and fear is considered a weakness. Red and black banners adorn its towers, and whispers of clawed hands bearing skulls mark their creed.
+</WRAP>
-  * Known for disciplined military, pragmatic politics, and arcane infrastructure.
-  * Values structure, honor, and public service—but is haunted by rigid tradition and secrecy.
-  * Many citizens have a “duty-before-self” attitude, especially those raised in core territories.
-  * The Empire considers Volaire Proper a sovereign territory but rarely intervenes directly.
-**Notable Location:**
+<WRAP center round box 100%>
-  * **Volaire Proper** – A political and magical hub built on the bones of fallen guilds. Its ruins and districts hold secrets from all three ages.
+=== Forsetidale ===
+The home of the balanced blade, **Forsetidale** is a barony of knights, judges, and blacksmiths. Order is forged through honor, and justice is as important as strength. Golden symbols of justice shine proudly above the city of **Dalefaer**.
+</WRAP>
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-=== 🐺 The Kingdom of Leib Olmai ===
+<WRAP center round box 100%>
+=== Tuatha ===
+The **Tuathan** people dwell closest to nature. Magic is natural, undeath is abhorrent, and the land must be nurtured. Their capital, **Almuril**, thrives on agriculture and textile craft. They believe life and death are part of a sacred cycle to be protected—not manipulated.
+</WRAP>
-A kingdom of forests, rivers, and strong bloodlines, **Leib Olmai** is both proud and pragmatic. Its people tend to be fiercely loyal to their own kin and culture, but its leaders have taken a broader interest in diplomacy and expansion.
-  * Known for hunters, herbalists, and warrior-monks who revere strength and wisdom.
+Each barony has its own embassy, military guard, and approach to magic, governance, and diplomacy. While they are united under the banner of Ariad, tensions between them run deep.
-  * Blends martial tradition with deep lore-keeping—both sword and scroll are valued.
-  * Politics are shaped by family lines, with long rivalries between noble houses.
-**Notable Location:**
-  * **Verasi** – A powerful trade city built along intersecting rivers. Its scholars and merchants often clash in the public square, but its influence continues to grow.
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-===== 🏙 Major Cities =====
+===== The Kingdom of Leib-Olmai =====
+To the east lies **Leib-Olmai**, a powerful and disciplined kingdom defined by rationality, structure, and civic order. Its secular doctrines—the **Principles of Illumination**—form the basis of law, education, and magic regulation. Unlike Ariad, magic here is highly scrutinized and undeath is an abomination.
-These cities are recognized across Tala as cultural, political, or magical power centers. Characters from these cities may be well-traveled, politically entangled, or simply trying to escape their past.
+Led by **King Lirum-Duhl IV**, with his successors vying quietly beneath him, the kingdom is a breeding ground for philosophical intrigue, cultural rigor, and political rebellion. Cities like **Verasi**, **Tharnspire**, and **Cael’Rethan** are known for their symmetry, education, and military discipline.
-=== 📍 Volaire Proper ===
+----
-  * Built atop ruins of the Mage’s Guild and former High Circle of the Guild of Light.
+===== Other Realms and Peoples =====
-  * Now fractured, the city is split between old power factions, trade guilds, and vigilante militias.
+Beyond the two dominant kingdoms lie scattered city-states, hidden enclaves, and wandering cultures:
-  * Arcane storms sometimes erupt from beneath the city. Some believe the land itself remembers.
-A character from Volaire Proper likely knows hardship, compromise, and how to survive among shifting loyalties.
+  * **The Ramtovi Caravans** – Nomadic traders and mystics, loyal to one another and fiercely independent.
+  * **The Wild Elven Groves** – Secluded and anti-arcane, the Wild Elves uphold their own primal code.
+  * **The Dwarven Holds of Qualtah** – Isolated mining settlements full of tradition, treasure, and grudge.
+  * **The Hidden Courts of the Fae** – Chaotic, unpredictable, and barely understood even by their own.
----
+The continent teems with ancient magic and ruins from long-lost civilizations. Many cultures share whispered tales of [[The Shattering]], an epochal event in the distant past that shattered the balance of magic and laid waste to many of Tala's greatest cities. No scholar agrees on its true origin.
-=== 📍 Verasi ===
+----
-  * The jewel of Leib Olmai. A walled city renowned for diplomacy, scholarly pursuits, and swordplay.
+===== Guilds and Institutions =====
-  * Home to several minor noble houses, temple ruins repurposed into guild halls, and complex law codes.
+Several major organizations once anchored the town of Volaire and the wider world:
-  * Known for hosting the “Veiled Market”—a neutral ground for factions seeking quiet alliances.
-Characters from Verasi may be well-spoken, culturally aware, or trained in a specific tradition.
+  * **The Mage's Guild** – Center of arcane research and ritual development. Now fractured, with rogue sects still roaming.
+  * **The Guild of Light** – Once a bastion of healing and protection. Now mostly in ruins.
+  * **The Artisan's Guild** – Innovators, inventors, and creators. Their workbench legacy still exists across Tala.
+New characters may discover fragments of these orders in-game or choose to align with their philosophies.
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-===== 📚 Using This for Backstories =====
+===== World Themes and Player Hooks =====
+The world of Volaire is shaped by the following recurring themes:
-You can choose to come from:
+  * **Survival through Adaptation** – Magic, undeath, and invention offer power—but at what cost?
-  * A capital city (e.g., Volaire, Verasi)
+  * **Ideological Division** – Kingdoms, baronies, and guilds all interpret morality and magic differently.
-  * A remote village under empire control
+  * **Legacy and Ruin** – The ruins of ancient empires hold knowledge, relics, and dangers.
-  * An independent outpost or ruin between the powers
+  * **Mystery in the Margins** – Hidden truths lie beneath the surface, often protected by lies, oaths, or forgotten spells.
-  * A merchant family, military branch, or displaced noble line
-Ask yourself:
+----
-  * Does your character trust power—or resent it?
-  * Were they raised under law or chaos?
+===== A Note on Geography =====
-  * Do they see the world as worth saving… or replacing?
+Geography in Volaire is **intentionally mutable**—not because it's undefined, but because it's **experienced**. Maps are drawn by the living and constantly revised. Terrain shifts. Ruins appear. Roads vanish. Magic tears at reality in slow waves.
+This allows both players and Game Managers freedom to craft new places without needing rigid cartography. Towns grow or fall based on plot. Mountains may be swallowed by shadow. What matters most is **how your character interacts** with the world they walk in.
 ----
-===== 🌐 Future Expansions =====
+===== For New Players =====
+If you are creating a new character and seeking to tie them into the world, consider these questions:
-This page will grow to include:
+  * Does your character come from Ariad or Leib-Olmai? How do they feel about their homeland?
-  * Detailed maps and geographic regions
+  * What barony, kingdom, or independent faction shaped their early life?
-  * Trade routes, magical ley lines, and border conflicts
+  * Do they believe in personal freedom, civic duty, arcane supremacy, or natural balance?
-  * Minor kingdoms and rogue city-states
+  * Have they witnessed ruins, horrors, or wonders that changed them?
-  * Famous figures, fallen powers, and historical flashpoints
+  * How do they view the fractured world they now walk—and what do they hope to build, or destroy?
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-**The world is vast, splintered, and watching. Where you come from matters—but what you do next matters more.**
+----
+<wrap em>**Navigation:**
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