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.
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.
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.
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 Empire is divided into three prominent baronies, each with its own leadership, identity, and interpretation of power:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Beyond the two dominant kingdoms lie scattered city-states, hidden enclaves, and wandering cultures:
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.
Several major organizations once anchored the town of Volaire and the wider world:
New characters may discover fragments of these orders in-game or choose to align with their philosophies.
The world of Volaire is shaped by the following recurring themes:
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.
If you are creating a new character and seeking to tie them into the world, consider these questions:
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