| The Heartwaste | |
|---|---|
| |
| Region Number | 5A |
| Realm | Faedas Freehold |
| Population | 121,000 |
| Resources | Precious Gems, Stone, Bloodfire |
| Imports | Timber |
| Religion | Children of Kina |
The Heartwaste is a landlocked region in the north-central continent, and the ceremonial capital region of the Faedas Freehold, though the administrative capital is now in Tekorva.
Geography[]
Harsh badlands in the west where a man can die in a day of the heat, or have the flesh scoured from his bones in minutes by a sandstorm and snowy mountains where you can be buried in seconds by an avalanche or freeze to death because of a blizzard in the east meet in the middle to form a harsh, but livable, tundra, though people reside in all corners of the land.
In the southwest, the harshest of the badlands are named the Flaying Lands and it is the site of the fiercest sandstorms in the Heartwaste. None choose to live in this most desolate region within the Heartwastes, though it offers much protection against unwary or unwanted travelers from foreign lands. Outside the Flaying Lands, between the harsh arid desert and the more habitable region of the country lies the Wyrm’s Pit. Legend has it that this vast chasm in the desert was once the home of a dragon, though no-one knows if that's true or not, and while many openly scoff at such tales, few can offer any explanation more solid. What is known, however, is that an astounding array of metals and gems lines the several miles of it that Heartwastians managed to build scaffolding down into turning it into a major mining site. Despite years of work, they've only explored perhaps six miles along it at any height, out of a thousand or so, and the bottom is still nowhere near in sight even at the deepest they've gotten.
Heraldry of the Heartwaste during the reign of Queen Katara
In the east, along the border shared by the Heartwaste and Lyradis and up to Guilder tall, freezing mountains mark the border as well as providing a constant source of blizzards and avalanches. The mountain range, dubbed the Frozen Peaks by natives are generally avoided, though many Heartwastians tend towards the extremes of the east than those of the west and the Ice Palace lies nestled among the peaks, protected but difficult to ascend to. The Ice Palace is built high in the mountains to the south of the Blazing Temple, tucked away in a sheltered valley and was grown entirely from ice, though the fae who once ruled here did something to it, no-one is quite sure what, to keep it from melting if heated, and increase the strength well beyond that of ordinary ice, or even some kinds of stone.
Growing from underneath the center of the ice palace and visible through the ice itself is the great Thorn, the name given to the vine that forms the Throne of Thorns itself. The Throne sits center in the Palace, in the main hall, and its blackened rooty twisting shape, shaped by hundreds of spiked vines sprouting from the main thick root that forms the seat and back makes the throne look like an overgrown rose bush and marks a distinct look form the rest of the icy décor.
The center of the Heartwaste is where the majority of its people live and for this reason the central area of the nation is dubbed the Heart. The Heart is fed by the Sesaelsa River which runs down the western side of the mountains in the east from their frozen peaks, with a caravan route along the higher portions for bringing goods back. The Sesaelsa River goes straight into Calorum, and is a major trade route for selling goods to them.
People[]
The people of the Heartwaste are a hardy group, on the whole, as would be expected given the harsh conditions in their land, though those in Heart are probably less acclimated to the harshness of the wild than those who choose to make livings closer to the Flaying Lands, or the nobility of the eastern mountains.
All appear superficially to be mostly human, those from the western badlands having dusky skin, dark hair, and brown eyes, while the ones in the mountains are paler, with eyes tending towards green, and hairs of gold and silver. Those who live in the Heart vary from town to town though a growing number of Vampyre among the common people has led to a mixture of characteristics.
About sixty percent of the population is allergic to silver, often those of the tribes to the west and those of mixed blood in the Heart, with the other forty percent having an allergy to iron, often those with more noble bearing in the east. The first causes contact burns if handled, but is otherwise harmless, though the effects of being stabbed with silvered weapons or the like have not yet been tested, while the second causes debilitating loss of energy and severe pain simply from being too near it, much less handling it.
The reasons for these allergies are ancient and rarely talked of, but the reason is known to any who dares to follow deep the question. The people of the Heartwaste are in fact two ancient tribes of people, the Fae of the east and the Werekin of the west. It is unknown when in ancient times but it said the Fae once ruled over the entirety of the north central continent alongside their Fae brethren, the Cloudiz. As time went on the magiks of the two Fae people were put to work twisting the life forces of animals and humans who came north into Fae lands. At some point the Fae Empire feel and the Fae in the Heartwaste were separated from their bretheren, forced to face the creatures they had created, namely the Werekin, a fusion of human and wolf that had been used as troops by the ancient Fae Empire.
The Fae originally sought to subjugate the Werekin who had blossomed in the anarchy of the crumbling Fae Empire but the Fae were no match for their creations on the battlefield and were pushed back to the mountains and the Ice Palace. It eventually came to pass that the tribes joined peacefully, though no text speaks of how, and the people united to form the Heartwaste with the ancient royal line of the Fae tribe and the Werekin leader joined in marriage and blood, their descendants being those who sit upon the Throne of Thorns. Little did the two tribes know that when the bloods of their people were combined they would form a new race, the Vampyre.
The Vampyre is a race with the long life and youthful looks of the Fae but sharing in the violent traditions and bloody inclinations of the Werekin. Though over the centuries the fae nobility, ever more active in politics than the Werekin of the west, attempted to thin the blood of the new Vampyre race through marriages to Fae blooded nobles though it is said they only met with half successes and the longevity of both Fae and Vampyre has seen the attempts of the Fae to dilute the Vampyre royal line back to predominantly Fae slow to take effect and even Valineth, with her diverse blood and heritage, is deemed by many more Vampyre than Fae.
Now, new concerns are rising among the Fae nobility as the common people of the ancient tribes have begun to mix in the Heart, creating a new breed of common Vampyre that the nobility may exert no control over without fear of reprisal from their queen.
Fair in hair, eyes, and complexion, shorter than the Werekin or Vampyre, and possessing pointed ears, the Fae blooded of the Heartwaste are considered more regal and noble than the other inhabitants of the Heartwaste, even those who share no or limited connection the Fae Court. This is due in large part to the belief and propaganda spread that in ancient times the Fae ruled the entirety of the northern continent and have, by birth right alone, innate command and superiority over the other races of Telluris with only rare exceptions. The Werekin especially are claimed to be naturally submissive to those of Fae blood as texts and writings claim they were in fact the creation of ancient Fae magic and thus owe their very existence and thus their servitude to those of Fae descent. The majority of Fae live in the east in the valley in which the Ice Palace is built, those that don’t tend to live in the Heart in villages and towns isolated from one another by stretches of barren land and rarely do Werekin live in these villages in any capacity other than as a servant.
Dark in all aspects, with dusky features and a tendency towards harrier bodies, the Werekin of the Heartwaste are known as such because of their unique ability. When enraged or touched by the light of a full moon, being nocturnal creatures unlike the diurnal Fae, a Werekin transforms from an appearance largely human into one more reminiscent of a wolf, with sharpened teeth, fur where once was only hair, and a bulkier appearance than a human. It is not known what exactly a Werekin experiences in this transformation but it has been observed that they seem to lose all reason and act as wild beasts. Despite this no Werekin has ever been reported as harming another Werekin in a case where the two parties had not already been antagonistic, and for the most part the Werekin seem content to hunt animals and feast on non-sentient creatures in their bestial form. It is said the ancient feud that began the war that saw the tribes of Fae and Werekin united was caused by the killing of a Fae princess by a Werekin warrior but such is the telling of the Fae nobility and not easily trusted.
Appearing largely as the Fae do, if somewhat taller on average and with a greater propensity for red or purple eye coloring and sharp canines reminiscent of the Werekin, the Vampyre are in truth not a new race, but the combination of Fae and Werekin. The Vampyre seemingly require little sleep, though prefer being active in the nighttime than the day, finding the sun unpleasant on their skin. The Vampyre were at first seen by the Fae as a blessing, that the superficial appearance of the Fae nobility might be preserved and with it their presumed right to lord over the Werekin, however, it became apparent upon the black of a new moon when the first Vampyre Queen had been sat upon the Throne of Thorns that the fusion of the two races had not led to the suppression of the ‘inferior’ Werekin blood but the creation of something new.
Vampyres have a desire to taste the blood of mortals, most especially fae, and when it came to be revealed the first Vampyre Queen was using her Fae husband as an, albeit willing, source of sustenance the beginning of the Fae conspiracy against the Vampyre was begun. Though successive breedings of the Valineth line away from greater Vampyre blood has led to a dilution of the mixed race it is said by some that even Valineth has spoken of a desire for fae sustenance, but these may simply be rumors created by unhappy nobles with Bloodfire holdings they are unable to sell.
Resources[]
The major resources produced by the Heartwaste are the Precious Gems mined from the Wyrm’s Pit, and the incidental Stone also garnered by the mining efforts, which has proven quite useful as a building material. The most well-known resource is, of course, the Bloodfire, a strange, red, liquid, viscous and heavy, that, in its natural state, is extremely volatile. Due to the Pax Varinel signed by Queen Valineth it is currently illegal to export untreated Bloodfire to any foreign nation. A fact much lamented by those with holdings of Bloodfire they aren’t allowed to sell.
Bloodfire when treated properly can with a single small vial if properly rationed feed a bonfire large enough to roast several oxen at once for a week. Untreated Bloodfire is extremely volatile and dangerous, and exposure to even a small flame can result in a massive and violent explosion. Despite this, mass treatment of the Bloodfire has not been feasibly solved, being an altogether too costly prospect by any current standards of production. Still, work continues by scholars and workers in the Heartwaste to solve the problem of mass Bloodfire treatment as was promised in the Pax Varinel.
The lands of the Heartwaste, so much uninhabitable to flesh and plant, is lacking severely in Timber, and it is this above all else that is desired by the inhabitants.
Religion[]
The people of the Heartwaste now follow the creed of Children of Kina almost exclusively, following the lead of their queen.
References[]
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=18049740&postcount=38