Our World
The Balance and Flow
All things in Lonsarril are inextricably linked by the pact between the creation powers known as the Balance and the pulsing magical forces known as the Flow. The Balance and the Flow are very present forces that the people of Lonsarril can access, rely upon and call upon. This taps into the person’s philosophies, beliefs and knowledge to channel and direct them.
The Strands
The Strands are the elemental building blocks from which Lonsarril is built and to which everyone or thing in Lonsarril will return for as long as the Darkness is held back. Whilst it is true that the Elemental spirits that inhabit Lonsarril are inexorably tied to it through the pact of the Balance, it is the Strands that are the origin and true homes for all elementals. Very few mortals or even Elder Spirits travel through the weave of Lonsarril into the Strands themselves, but it can be done if the right magic is found.
The Continent of Tasadon
We are excited to be building our world of Lonsarril and have started with the continent of Tasadon. Our first setting to be fully fleshed out with regional and city maps is the nation of New Ilthium, and more specifically the city of Fallsea. As you can see in the video below, we are creating a significant amount of detail with our continent, regional and city maps organised in an atlas you can easily drill down into and a comprehensive wiki.
The tool you are seeing illustrated in the video below is LegendKeeper.
The Nations of Tasadon
Arthlos is a small, young kingdom having been founded in 4174 TE. It is named after the founding ruler who proclaimed himself a king. The ruling family is of Tranth descent with King Arthlos coming to power in the unrest after the Time of Chaos.
The people of Arthlos refer to themselves in the plural as Arthloi. They are a proud people, quick of mind and resourceful.
The Dwarves of the Black Iron Mountains, a break-away clan from Stoneholm, are the exemplification of the master craftsman. The wonders of weapons and armor from the black iron they mine are much sought after.
Set deep in the Black Iron Mountains the Clan Hold is much reduced from what it was, but it is still a place of industry. Its wide-open halls welcome outsiders to a point, with Dwarves, Gnomes and Oreads being the only permanent residents.
The land of Chothos is also known as Choth Conclave and it covers a swathe of land across the south of Tasadon consisting of arid grasslands, swamp and jungle.
Scattered amongst this terrain are the Choth people who can trace all their tribes from the same six brothers. The nomadic grassland herders are master horsemen and the jungle dwellers have great shamans and use the jungle’s bounty to heal and harm.
Clannast, also known as the Uplands cover part of the north, going from thick alpine forest at the feet of the mighty Wrathhelm Peaks and up to the cold plains before the White North.
Named after the strong, wild and often barbaric people that settled these lands. The Clannast people are at constant war with the wilderness, the orc tribes under the banner of the mighty and seemingly immortal Harag, the wolven Adlet packs, giants from the Tablelands and sometimes each other
Eldoth Vale is the home of the Great Library and the Halls of Learning. They are open to everyone who wishes to learn.
As such Eldoth Vale attracts collectors of information, those who are seeking answers and those who wish to grow their power.
The Great Library headed by the Lecturen and the administrator scribes, stores information on every subject conceivable even those subjects considered to be dangerous.
The Halls of Learning, head by the Dean of the Vale, is a university of the highest calibre, many nobles from across Tasadon send their children there to learn.
There is also a vibrant community centred on the arts in their many differing forms.
Gaelraith, also known as the Free States, is the home of free expressed magic. Just as the Ilth civilisation was rising to prominence a section of their society felt that if the Magi Council took over their governance would damage everyone’s ability to freely explore the boundaries of magic.
State controlled magic went against their very nature. There were mages who wanted experiment with magic, push the boundaries of magic and create new things that had yet been unheard of, they followed a leader called Lanisar Gaelraith.
Because of their strong philosophical difference, they founded the Gaelraith spanning from the mainland behind the Black Iron Mountains to the islands off the eastern shores
These are the tribal lands of Harag the Mighty, Harag the Immortal. With his own small tribe Harag first took over Uthotas an ancient and poorly defended Clannast stronghold with significant religious status.
It is understood that after this he raised the scattered Orc tribes of the eastern Uplands and forged an unstoppable force, claiming invincibility and immortality.
The further actions that he took in subjugating the Clannast people certainly gave credence to these claims. Harag the Mighty conquered the Uplands and expanded south into the area that was to become the Ilthium Empire and Tranth.
Pushing even further south with his huge armies he eventually brought them to the edge of Illisier itself.
The original homeland of the Elven people, Illiseir is an ancient forest protected by deep strong magic. Since the Majority of the Elven people decided to leave Tasadon and remove themselves to Yanir it is also mostly deserted and slowly becoming wild in nature.
Those Elves remaining in Illiseir chose to stay behind. They see themselves as the Guardians of Illiseir’s deep secrets and in doing so they have called upon their mightiest magic and confused the pathways into Illiseir, making Illiseir the Lost Forest.
They govern themselves, as a society of equals, recognising that whatever major decisions they make will impact on everyone else. They are also an inclusive society that welcomes the other races that dwelt within Illiseir before the Majority left.
The Luthmirian City States are the lands divided up between the remaining nine of the Cabal of Luthmir. What once was the Ilthium Empire is a very dangerous land; the boundaries between Lonsarril and the Desolation are thin in many places due to the Time of Chaos and the scars that remain from the Great Conflict.
Abominations manifest easily, people disappear and very few smaller communities exist outside the well-fortified cities of the Nine.
From their fortresses the Nine plot against each other, planning the other’s downfall, sending out attack parties to test their rival’s weakness. This conflict is concentrated around the ruins of Luthmir. It is a dangerous set of ruins and is a constant battlefield to seize between the Nine.
New Ilthium is an island group situated in the Shallow Sea beyond Wyrmgud Spires. It consists of the main island named Ilthium and two minor islands. The northern island is name Linnerette and the southern smaller island is named Oranus.
The New Ilthium society is a democracy governed by the people elected Prefecture with the Elector at its head. The Magi Council are a powerful group that has the ability to enact marshal law when they deem it necessary. This political stance has risen out of the Ilth’s desire to not be shackled by the bonds that royalty placed upon the lower people.
These are the lands that are sandwiched between Tranth and Lutmirian City States, they are also known as the Marches, Baron’s March or the Border Barons. Tranth founded the Baronies to act as a militarized wedge between Tranth and their strongest neighbor at the time – the Ilthium Empire.
They were originally founded during the Trade Wars between the Tranth Oligarchy and the Ilthium Empire to be Tranth’s military might and cause issues allowing Tranth to claim distance from their ‘recalcitrant’ children.
The Barons of North March were the younger sons, inconvenient scions, or ambitious climbers that the Pentarchs wanted out of the way but kept busy. When the Time of Chaos occurred, they had the largest standing armies in Lonsarril and bore a significant weight of the Great Conflict.
When the Shadow Dragon Zomok destroyed the Ulutian Capital, Ulos, she cursed the land all around; bringing about the Red Sands.
Almost overnight the sands engulfed all that it touched burying Ulos and a multitude of smaller towns leaving their wealth and magic intact. From those that did not flee the desolation to form the Ilth Empire and the Tranth Oligarchy came the Dhaj Coalition.
The Dhaj are a hardy desert people who have adjusted to life in the Red Sands. They are nomadic in organisation in their tribal groups; they are committed to guarding the powerful secrets of the past and ensuring that Zomok will never rise again.
Lead in this task the warrior tribesmen are guided by the aesthetic holy men called the Kajirin who serve order and peace, living on the great rising mesas of the desert.
Prince Renthir I was the younger brother to Anasthoth V Emperor of the Ilthium Empire. Prince Renthir decided that he wanted more. Instead of fomenting trouble and bringing about a civil war he gathered his resources, his vassals and headed south into the wilderness to the south, left largely deserted in the exodus from the Ulutian Empire.
Prince Renthir set about colonising and conquering the lands to the south. He blazed a trail that many followed afterwards setting up strongholds as he went. He went south as far as the Red Sands, building a safe trade route through the region of the sands and into Choth.His wealth from this became formidable. He brokered deals with both the Choth Conclave and the Dhaj Coalition for land to build trade towns and set up more strongholds along this trade route that are still standing and are garrisoned.
The Skaar of the Western Isles were once glorious and strong. They originally arose from a loose group of nomadic tribes who wandered the grasslands of northern Ulutia as the Ulutian civilisation rose into prominence of the Ulutian Empire.
Conflict with the Ulutians and the leadership of a prophet banded these tribes together as the Skaar. Instead of taking them to war the prophet took them west to the Wyrmgud Isles, promising peace under watchful gaze of her and her kin.
Thus began the unique relationship between the Skaar and the Great Wyrms, the Skaar became the Skaarwyrmgud – People of the Dragon god. Over time the Skaarwyrmgud became three powerful clans the Dael the warrior clan; the Larn the agricultural-civil clan, and the Sule the priestly-druidic clan.
This was the first homeland of the Dwarves on Tasadon in the continent separating mountain range of the Stonespine. It was here that the Dwarves under the mountains came to the surface and made contact with men. They had spent sixteen centuries beneath the earth carving out their great halls, warring with Goblins and other creatures of the Underways, establishing a mighty nation.
By the time they had surfaced they had wealth beyond measure and craved more. They felt that everything that came from under the ground was theirs by right; just as from the stone they were made, they were stubborn. In their greed and spite, across the only safe pass in the Stonespine Mountains for thousands of leagues, they erected the Holmwall; a massive wall that blocks the Everstone Valley.
The Tablelands are series of huge steps and plateaus, building up to an impassable range of mountains.
Beyond the fringe of the Luthmirian City States, at the Tablelands most southern border, are the semi frozen Swamps of Koortet. From the first steps there are swathes of thick alpine forest up until the Dark Moors start at the first major plateau. Beyond that there are scatterings of further forests fading out when the bitter cold inhibits growth.
Most differing types of giants are found in concentration in various areas throughout the Tablelands, the most populous are Frost giants in the Tableland’s upper reaches, Stone giants are scattered throughout the area, Hill giants and ogres in the lower reaches.
Tranth was formed by the meagre farming families that had fled the destruction of the Ulutian Empire. In time the heads of these families, who became the feared Pentarchs, came to work together in exploiting the rich resources of the land they had come to, forming a powerful trading Oligarchy. The Pentarchs used their prime geographical location, growing to control the trade routes and became incredibly rich as a result.
The riches gained bloated the Tranth people, corruption bloomed, and manipulation and political manoeuvring became entrenched. The use of courtesans as political tools and spies, along with assassins to deal with those who would not be manipulated, became commonplace. Slavery became a common thing, foreign and domestic slavery ran unchecked.
Whisper Islands are a lawless multitude of islands that string out from Tasadon near Choth across the top of Maelstrom Sea into the Western Sea and ending south of the Western Isles.
If anything can be called the capital of Whisper Islands then it is Shallow Port. It is a place of truce for the Pirate Factions, a central hub of trade and is built at the foot of a large semi-dormant volcano called Kifyros. This volcano is the residence of an immense fire Elder Elemental that once burnt Shallow Port to the ground due to battle that woke her up. Thus goes the saying “Do not be so loud, ye will wake Kifyros” is said in partial jest.
Four Pirate Factions divide the Whisper Islands up: Blood Beards, White Caps, Maelstrom Marauders and Ril Riders. They have numerous strongholds between them scattered throughout the islands.
The Nefferen are a cruel, hardened and normally disorganized people. They revere Zarnresh as their god, acknowledging her as the Guardian of the Silver Ice. They also revere the great ice worms as her emissaries of vengeance. The ice worms known as the “Wruen” live underneath in a semi-frozen sea known as Zarnresh’s Claw. The “Wruen” tunnel endlessly through this ice searching for prey.
The World’s End Mountains are famous for the magical Silver Ice, a material that can be forged into armor and weapons.
There is a reclusive conclave of Elves and Gnomes that live to the east above the Tablelands of the Giants in a secluded near temperate series of valleys called Solistus. Their presence is warded against discovery, though at times hostile creatures blunder their way in.