Locations/WyldBane

The Province of Wyldbane, by Sunjumper

OK. Here is a very short (well it is rather long nonetheless) summary of the province I designed as a sand box so that my players could get a feeling for the world of exalted without being overwhelmed by the massive background.

I will update this page shortly. I have started to clear up the layout a bit.

General Information

The province Wyldbane is located in the very, very, very far east and is the farthest existing outpost of the Realm. It is connected to the rest of the world over a large river that joins the Maruto river at the height of Meresh. The province stretches forth from a 330 yard high cliff that divides the lower jungle where the cities are from the some what more dangerous high jungle.

It is under the benevolent rule of prince Dragontear Gundolf a water aspected DragonBlooded of a minor House that delineates from House Cathak. He dropped the Cathak name after his wife was assassinated while visiting Imperial City on official matters. He strongly suspects that his wife was killed out of political reasons and has since then broken of all diplomatic contact with the Realm and now just does what he must to keep the province running and keeping it out of the sight of the Dynasty. His only remaining family is his Son Dragontear Hanram (Fire aspect) and his older brother Dragontear Wolf (water aspect) who relinquished the rule over the province to his younger brother as he has problems relating to normal humans seeing them as somewhat inferior and in the end uninteresting creatures. Having rules over the province since after the Usurpation the rulers of Wyldbane have local names, instead of Imperial ones.

The province is mostly self sufficient and exports timber and various luxury goods, which are made from wood, the bonelike cartilage of a few indigenous fish, semi precious stones, pearls and the local specialty moss stones. (Stones on which different types of moss are cultivated so that they combine to a picture.)

The cities.

There are seven cities in the province. Fortress Wyldbane the capital, seat of most of the province’s administration and home of the majority of artisans.

Timber And Deep Forest.

Two towns that specialise in lumbering.

Timber’s mayor (Oakfist Joshua) has some major authority problems as he constantly tries to force his authority on the somewhat anarchistic lumberjacks.

Timber has to transport its wood overland as it is not even near the river. They are often attacked by a group of rebels (more of the later) that camp in the north of the Province.

Deep Forest is a divided town.

Like Timber it is located deep in the jungle but an anabranch of the river reaches quite near it so the Deep Foresters build an outpost named Camp Fortune a couple of hundred years ago to speed up trading. Camp fortune has grown considerably since then and tension between the lumberjacks and the merchants have been increasing in the past.

To make matters worse the mayor of Deep Forest Nederain Ashcroft is a petty man that wishes nothing more than to increase his power. He has so far always delegated his bad decisions to others so that in the end he always comes out clear. This might end ugly as the administrator of Camp Fortune (Eisenklinge Hawk) deeply resents him and would like nothing better than to see him fall.

Ariplath

A mining community based around an small ancient structure from the first age.

They dig deeply into the surprisingly rich supplies of different ores and Jade. The raw materials are smelted on location and transported in form of ingots to the rest of the province.

Ariplath lies far away from the river.

Emerald Sea and Abundant Plains

Two farming communities. All forms grain and live stock are grown here and are together with the fishing of Diamond Falls (see below) the main supplier of food of the province.

Pueblo Libre

(Explanatory note: for simplicities sake I decided a long time ago to emulate Old Realm with Spanish [a language most of my players recognize and somewhat understand] and new Realm with English, making descriptions of the languages easier.)

This rickety town that has been demolished a few times yet has always been rebuild on another location is home of a cult of fanatic Solar worshippers. During the usurpation a Solar retired with his loyal servants into the depths of the jungle to evade the purge.

The solar was killed but quite a few of her followers survive and keep up resistance against the Dragonblooded ‘tyrants’. They are usually tolerated because it is easier to leave them to their mad ramblings of freedom and revolution against the ‘system’ than to hunt them down in their hidden nests in the depths of the jungle. Recently though a charismatic leader (Finest Varatro) has emerged (no, he is not an Exalt) and has started to organize the rebels and started a guerrilla war against the Imperial troops and now systematically raids the road connecting Fortress Wyldbane and Timber.

Diamond Falls

The biggest town in the province is located directly on the cliff that divides the jungle. Here the river gushes into the great Lake Werdna, driving a first age artifact.

The town itself lies mostly on a large plateau in a height of approximately 280 yards, here are the residential quarters, the market place, the Temple of the Immaculate Dragons, the Temple of the Hundred Gods, the cities administration and most surprisingly the cities many shipyards.

At the foot of the cliff on the very edge of the lake, protected by a maze of shoals lies the lower town also known as ‘does it smell like fish?’ where the harbour is, as well as the warehouses and most of the bars.

After only 80 yards the waterfall is redirected behind the cliff where it constantly powers a titanic machine left over from the first age.

With its help fresh water is pumped into all houses in Diamond Falls the sewage is actevly pumped away, some heavy machinery is driven and the hydraulic lifts are powered.

There are dozens upon dozens of hydraulic lifts in the city from varying sizes. The smalest have room for about four persons and the biggest are able to haul an entire trireme tender or even bigger ships up the cliff.

On the very top of the cliff lies Port Clover an uninhabited little port that is used for expeditions into the far east.

Ships can be hauled from the lake the entire way to this place with help of the hydraulic lifts.

The name of the place comes from the clover shaped deviation of the river that was build in ages past to slow the flow of the water thus making it possible to build the port near the cliff.

The secrets of Diamond Falls

It is not difficult to guess that there is more to this city than already meets the eye. The device below the cliff is actually a vast level 5 manse built in the first age.

It has several functions.

The first is to create two wind lanes on the river for several hundred miles in each direction, enabling safe and fast travel on the water way. In regular intervals venting stations are placed that redirect the wind to keep the lanes functional. Many of the venting stations have failed and now the effect is only partially in effect. Experienced sailors know how to follow the wind lanes most effectively and foreign expeditions are best advised to hire a local navigator or two.

The second and vastly more important function is that the Manse uses its considerable power to keep the Wyld at bay, inside its protective field not even bordermarshes can form. this is one of the main reasons why the province still exists. Fair folk can enter the province without any problems though.

The third effect is a minor yet important one.

The massive essence shifting necessary to keep the aforementioned effects running have a strange side effect. The patterns of fate tend to cycle through a very complex yet repetitive pattern that allows someone skilled in the ways of the maidens to subtly alter the tapestry of fate without anyone noticing.

The Sidereal

A very young Astrologer set up camp in Diamond Falls two years ago. An incredibly clumsy youth with a love deep fondness of beer and tragically for the steins it is served in. (He tends to break them more often than not.)

What nearly no one knows.

• He is a Sidereal of the Maiden of Secrets.
• He is incredibly old and has only a few centuries left at best.
• He once was in the Gold Faction and he saw how all fell apart and thing only got worse.
• He is now unaffiliated and has made this province his haven.
• The family ruling it has been indoctrinated and protected by him for over a thousand years.
• He has very carefully altered fate during the past millennium, so that when the time is right more Solars are exalted in the Province and are shielded from his brothers' prying eyes.
• He intends to carefully watch the heroes grow and exalt and gently guide them on the right path so that the errors of the past might not be made again.
• He will tell them of his nature, warn them of his fellows and teach them the basic things they must know and he will most probably answer most of their questions.
• He will not reveal his true power unless there is no other way.

Reader Comments

Just cleaned up some formatting a little. -- JesseLowe (July 14, 2005)