DariusSolluman/TinalionGeography
Tinal, the functional if not offical capital of Tinalion, the Violet Coast and the Hundred Kingdoms, is situated directly south of the islands East of Bluehaven. Five days walk north, ten days walk south, and five days walk inland from either pole- roughly speaking -demarks the Cantrev Tinalion, and makes it by far one of the largest. Additionally, it controls the outlaying archipeligo of islands, from which comes both much of it's wealth and much of it's power.
Those islands are pitted in obsidian mines, desolute and ruinious. Other mines hold other minerals- opal, and even some rare Jade. Slaves and condemned prisoners are sentenced their to quarry their time away- failure for an island to provide it's weekly allotment of the black glass sees their rations cut, while discoveries of more valuable substances provides for treats. There are no guards on the island- if they become rebellious, their food shippments are simply withheld for a month, making them nice and pliant.
Going north and south of Tinalion proper, you ultimately encounter the vast jungle, along with awful mires and swamps. These swamps are typically tamed by the villages, who build their houses on stilts and bridges, using the rich soil to grow rice and barley. The jungles are still quite wild, however- to either north or south. Although there are Cantrevs that lay claim to them, they are wild, unsettled places- almost wholly composed of Bordermarches save in the hearts of cities, and the deeper places in the forest are rumored to hold Middlemarches and worse. Whole tribes of people, their culture and knowledge and birthright forgotten, live in these treacherous rainforests, totally divorced from the Hundred Kingdom's relative civility.
This jungle has a variety of names, depending on who you ask and what part you refer to. The Verdent Death, Black Poision, Atoth's Folly.
To the far South, along the coast, the Kingdom's grow wild and strange. The citizens of Tinalion whisper of cannabilism and strange necromancy, blasphemies against the Ten Thousand Gods and perversions of nature. Merchents from the farthest Southwest, the very boundary of Fire and Water, are strangely touched and outlandishly garbed- but they bring fine workings of spun crystal and minor First Age trinkets. The only pay they take, though, is flesh- plant, animal and man. Merchant ships rarely sail to the farthest reaches of the distant South, and those that do find all the ports walled fortresses- friendly enough to outstiders that do not stray from their assigned areas.
To the far North, the Realm's influence is more clear. The Violet Coast is renamed the Pirate Coast, and the Realm does maintain an unhealthily active interest in the ships of the northern coast. These Pirate Towns are ill-organized, heavily influenced by their richer neighbors to the North. Of all Tinalion, the North is at once the most stolidly against the Realm and the most willing to sell out to it- the Cantrev Lords wage war over little else. Some few offer the Realm tribute, but the offerings are like a peasant trying to bribe a god- it is unlikely to be noticed, and less likely to be acted on. But still they try.
To the far East are the Burning Mountains, a range of peaks dividing Tinalion from the burning wastes of the True South. Few travelers defy these peaks, save by a few, narrolwy defined passages. Through these passages and across these peaks come barbarians, like demons from a burning Hell, raiding in to Tinalion year after year. These howling savages are kept at bay by the bravery of the Borderguard, the Cantrevs which happen to stand nearest the Burning Mountains. The majority of local steel also comes from these grounds, iron and coal both available in ready quantities. These cantrevs are virtually never part of the general warring that goes on, and rarely fall to the barbarians, although a tribe almost inevitibly manages to slip through. Recent, a Lunar Exalt has decided to lead his people to these gentlier lands, having been bested in ritual combat- the beast god utterly smashed the Cantrev Luan, as if it were dust in the wind, and the Night Haunters are pouring in, unchecked.
Within these boundaries, and particularly within the confines of the jungle at first, Tinalion is the focus of the campaign. Tinal itself is a watery version of Nexus. Meanwhile, the Hundred Kingdoms exist as a crude grid with illogical inconsistancies in the design- the original holdings were given out in a geomantically significant pattern from the First Age, their old meaning both untied to the actual geography and long since lost and forgotten, save the occusional, unscavanged First Age Marker. Villages dot the landscape, rarely more than day's walk from one to the other, and isolated farms are not hardly unknown. Cantrev Lords do not live like other nobility- they may have a manor house, but it is a house, not a fortress. They have lifestyles more in line with a well of merchant than a member of the aristocracy. They war admist one another constantly. The few Dragonblooded in residence to Tinalion concentrate their lives around Tinal itself, mostly leaving the Hundred Kingdoms alone, save when their warfare threatens to disrupt trade to and through the city.
The following is not an exhaustive run down of the notible landmarks of Tinalion- but they do bear some mention.
- The Forest of Distant Memories: A forest on the borders of the Wyld, it is dark and brooding. It is exceptionally easy to get lost in the Forest, for it is bigger on the inside than on the out, and strange creatures find there way there now and again. The wood from this forest is highly prized in making talismans to ward away the Fair Folk, as it is believed that alone keeps the Wyld from bursting through in a torent of madness.
- The Valley of Lost Heroes: A pass between the true southlands and the Cantrevs, one of the bloodiest spots since the Contagion and invasion of the Fair Folk. Barbarians almost always come through the Valley of Lost Heroes on their raids, and many have fallen to beat them back through it. Some also claim the name is even older than that, however- that the valley is, in truth, a tomb. Nonsense, of course. Hungry ghosts crawl across the land at night, seeking the warm blood of the living, and the hollow, limestone depressions and caves cause any wind to turn into an eerie wail. It is darkest luck to enter the Valley during the Calibration- it is said that those who do may never leave.
- Mount Heyial, and the Crying Monestary. The highest point near Tinal, Mount Heyial is a treacherous and rarely scaled peak, thrusting out alone in the plains- it is sometimes called the Little Earth Point, although not by anyone that has seen the Imperial Mountain. Near it's top is a monastic retreat, home of the Shouting Brotherhood- whose members practice a form of martial arts which focuses entirely on powerful kiais that can shape metal and shatter bone.
- Twilight. A dead city, entirely destroyed by the Contagion. Twilight is always cast in a red-purple twilight, just after the sun has set- time warps around it, freezing it in the moment of time that it's last living inhabitant died. At it's center, Creation falls away, leaving a bleeding gash into the Wyld- the source of both the time freeze and the Fair Folk of the region. Hungry ghosts roam Twilight freely, angrily devouring any trespasers. It was a marvelous city of the First Age once, home of over a hundred thousand people- more than now inhabit the whole of the region. It doubtless contains First Age wonders, for any that dare to disturb the restless dead.
- Cyrea. A valley in the mountainous border region, a virtual paradise in Creation, guarded by a thick stone wall. The Spring Court meets here, and so Cyrea is always in spring. It is also the home of the Sleeping Storm Dragon- a fell beast that awakens once a year to scour the coast, kicking up week long thunderstorms and winds that capsize ships. Those killed during his storms feed his hunger, until sated, he returns to sleep.
- The Plains of Melibon. These Plains are controlled by a semi-barbaric people, the Melibon. They are also called the Horselords. Very Sioux indian feel. They worship the Mistress of Knives, once a high servant of the Sun, cast out for reasons unclear. This worship consists of sacraficing hearts in her name- in return, she keeps them safe from harm. They pay a regular tribute to Tinal as well, honoring a long-ago treaty. Yes, the same Mistress from Ruins of Rathess- she's being directly imported.
- /VerdentDeath Demense of Brother Bright, in the depths of the jungle.
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