The Wonders, the Mysteries... resurrected

[Wensleydale]

Hariij

The Hariij are a melding between draconic and other DNA - generally a mix of half-and-half. The 'other' is usually either Duer or Elven, and the process of transformation is a complicated one. All, however, are technically 'children' of the last great dragon, Sha'ta, and they know it. This breeds a certain arrogance which is unmatchable by any other Daani species but perhaps the eldritch, and is exceeded only by that of the daemons.

Physical Appearance

A Hariij appears roughly alike to the species from which it was born - elf, duer, or possibly human. However, each one stands almost eight foot high, is slightly broader than they should be if proportioned exactly to their old height, and possesses wide, long, webbed wings stretching the length of its back. Ridges top the heads of most Hariij, their faces are elongated and horned, and the distinctive teardrop-shaped scales of a dragon pattern their skin at least partially. In Duer, these scales are often covered with the gems that stud the skin of all their race, whilst in elves, they are more prominent and frequent. The eyes of a Hariij, should he possess any (i.e. if he is human or elven), are slitted, alike to a cats, and have no iris - whilst the mouth and throat often dilate and reshape themselves to grant the Hariij a pair of semi-vestigial tongues - allowing them to, of all the species in the world, speak Draconic properly. Their muscle structure swells and strengthens, granting particular attention to the chest and shoulders, within which the flight muscles are located. Other than this, a Hariij remains mostly identical to his original species.

History

As Sha'ta, the last great dragon, came towards the end of his life, he saw that the dragons were no longer what they had once been. He realised that, in fact, he was the last - the last true dragon, above the animals who were not of his ilk. Seeing that the future was instead in humanoids, he set out to find a way of preserving... the essence of being a dragon... inside these creatures. He succeeded. Using outcast elves and his own duer slaves as experiments, he discovered that through opening himself as a channel for Wild Magic in a certain way, he could modify those he touched to be alike to him. In fact, he could transform them utterly into dragons - but such would kill them.

The first successful Hariij in whom he placed the correct balance of Dragon and Duer was called Atajj, from a local dialect language, but Sha'ta called him the 'Eldest of the New'. He continued to transmute creatures, hundreds of them - and formed the base for an empire. His final act before his death of old age was to, essentially, permanently weave himself into the Amenta, allowing any part of him to transmute by a touch. His blood has flowed freely since then, endlessly being replicated, and a single touch from it is enough to transmute a viable creature into a Hariij. Some are not viable, some are - the transformation requires things that not even the Hariij know of. Sha'ta spread amongst them a worship of his species, known as the Cult of the Dragon, and told them that nonbelievers must be converted or killed. This belief holds even now.

After the death of Sha'ta, Atajj led his people to war, as Sha'ta had told him. His people took the local language, a mix of Sharuss, Draconic, and various dialects, as that of their slaves, and taught it to all those they conquered, whilst speaking draconic amongst themselves. Their empire stretched far, growing daily, and only stopped at the coast and at the mountains of Majir. It prospered, and prospered, until the daemonic invasion. The Hariij legions, which had never faced a force as large as their own, or as powerful, were lax. Millions of men died at the hands of the Kheprer, and the Empire fell from within. Th Eldritch sent forces to assist, but Maajir, Counsel to the then Emperor Sibi, saw that they could not win and attempted to negotiate with the Kheprer. He promised to betray the Eldritch, and betray them he did, turning upon them at the Battle of Haman's Plain. The daemons, betraying him in turn, destroyed his forces utterly as the eldritch retreated, leaving the empire utterly undefended. Thousands fled the cities, taking with them their most choice possessions and their families. The Hariij either went with them or went to the last defence of the Dragonrock. Thousands were killed en-route, including the Emperor's wife and children, but the rock itself was never attacked - the Sebxet fell before the daemons had a chance.

Since then, the Hariij have mostly returned to the Dragonrock, building a new Empire out from there. Some, however, cannot live with the shame of what occurred on the mainland, and instead, have taken to lives in the Tandhus archipelago, posing as oversized hobgoblins or living out of public view. Many run small-time crime syndicates, taking small pleasure from manipulating individuals as they once did whole cities, pitting them against each other for their own amusement. Only time will tell what will happen to the Hariij now.

Magic

Although Wild Magic was used by Atajj and his ilk, its use has died out, and almost all mages within the Hariij Empire used Free Magic instead. Hariij have no qualms with using Free Magic or Necromancy, and it is instead an individual choice - but most use at least a little magic in their day-to-day lives.

Religion

All Hariij follow the Cult of the Dragon - it is an ancestral rite. All dragons and their ilk are to be venerated and served, and to slaves, this includes Hariij. Draconic artefacts are to be preserved and held by the Temple, not used as you would some common tool - and those who do so are heretics, worthy only of excessive punishment and retribution.

Language

Hariiji is a bit of a misnomer. Although all Hariij speak it, mostly as a first language, they do not speak it amongst themselves - draconic is their chosen language. To speak to another Hariij in Hariiji is the greatest of insults, putting them on par with a slave. Hariiji is instead the common tongue of the Empire, that spoken by most as a first language, and used as a trade tongue with other societies unconquered by the Hariij.

[Higgs Boson]

Is it just me, or does that last Age of Destruction sound a little too much like Warcraft lore?

[Wensleydale]

Is it just me, or does that last Age of Destruction sound a little too much like Warcraft lore?

As I've never read, played, or had anything to do with world of warcraft, it's probably coincidence. And phrasing it like that is slightly insulting, so please, don't.

Edit: After flicking through the warcraft wiki, I presume you mean the invasion of Azeroth. Apart from invasion-via-portal, I can't actually see a similarity at all.

[Wensleydale]

Elementals, Dragons, Revenants and other Supernatural Creatures

There are many creatures of a strange and supernatural nature spread across the cosmos, servants or creations of the Aeia themselves. This section will describe in detail each of these creatures, and the effects they have had on the world of Daan.

The Elementals

First and foremost were the elementals - children of the Aeia themselves. It is unknown when the first elemental gained sentience, but even the least of them is a being of extreme power. The Elementals are children of each Aeia equally, and thus have equal dominance over all things of water, earth, and air. A favoured few amongst the elementals were granted immense power over one element in exchange for their ability over the others, and these were named the Elemental Archons, greatest amongst the children of the Aeia.

It is said, however, that the Aeia doted on their children, and Raa grew jealous, forming his own from the fires of his soul. Whilst those of the Aeia could control all elements equally, Raa's spawn, which came to be known as the Ashborn, could manipulate only things of fire. When Raa was imprisoned, the Ashborn were thought lost with him, but reported sightings of such creatures scatter the ages.

Exactly what an elemental is is hard to explain. Many of the uneducated would leap to the conclusion that an elemental is a 'walking pillar' of rock, flame, or air. This is not correct, however - the Elemental itself is a disembodied soul, living on the border between the Amenta and this realm, capable of possessing things of the elements and animating them to attack enemies. To kill an elemental is almost as difficult as killing a daemon, but unlike daemons, elementals are generally impassive and neutral, content to watch the events of the world unless ordered to do otherwise by the Aeia or the Archons. It is possible, though, through Wild Magic, to bind an elemental to your will and attempt to force it to follow your every command. Doing so can be risky, however, as there is no guarantee that an elemental angered at its treatment will not return once freed and destroy its erstwhile master! Normally, offerings of precious gems and pearls placate elementals, and politeness must be observed.

Like Elementals, Ashborn can be bound, and with similar rituals - it is probably safer to bind an Ashborn than it is an elemental, as they do not have as much control over the world, and must be covert. However, Ashborn are not as subtle, or neutral, as their Aeia-spawned kin - rather, they are frequently fickle to an extreme, and in flights of temper often start forest fires or burn houses down. Dealing with the Ashborn requires just as much politeness - or power - as any elemental, but the Ashborn prefer things of the other elements, which they cannot obtain - clods of earth, small vials of water, or even bottles of air are considered thoughtful gifts.

Dragons

The Dragons were the first of the sentient beings of Daan, and the greatest. They performed acts of wild magic that have never been equalled since, and were immensely powerful beyond the knowledge of modern creatures. The Draconic Empire spanned a whole world, but was destroyed by the paranoia of its 'citizens'. Now, only a few hundred dragons remain, and those near-animals compared to their forebears.

A dragon is bizarre to look at, and even skeletons found now confuse scholars greatly. Each dragon is built somewhat alike to a cross between a snake and an iguana, on a huge scale - some growing to over a hundred feet in length and ten in breadth. Surrounding the body of the dragon are huge, frilled wings, four sets, sprouting from the shoulders - the span of which sometimes exceeds three-hundred feet, when unfolded properly - which fold upon the top and along the sides  of the body. These wings allow the dragon to fly - AND hover, alike to a hummingbird. Each dragon has no legs, instead moving along the ground alike to a snake, although they prefer to fly, and the entire body, other than the belly, is covered in distinctive teardrop shaped scales. The mouth of a dragon is filled with fangs, six layers of them, which regenerate slowly alike to a shark's, and its eyes have no irises. The muscles along its belly are strong enough for it to wrap itself around objects and hold itself above the ground, with assistance from the wings if necessary. Most importantly, a dragon's respiratory tract holds three independent voiceboxes, and three tongues move within its mouth. It is this particular feature of a dragon which makes speaking draconic impossible for all modern species except the Hariij, and for them, difficult.

The dragons were, and are, extremely proud and paranoid. Even in the days of the empire, dragons fought amongst themselves, and much of the landscape of modern-day Daan was shaped by these conflicts. However, it was not only the landscape that they changed - they built their own constructions also. Draconic architecture has a specific style - almost all draconic buildings are bone-white, flawless, and strangely angled. Not only this, but the entire building will always appear to be of one piece, and when tested, will be - because of the use of Wild Magic in their creation.

Draconic buildings are usually colossal spires, topped with a flat platform wide enough for a dragon to curl up and sleep on. Other notable draconic constructions include the arched dam at San'ak, a colossal bridge across the valley. This arch has nothing built beneath it, but a field which appears as nothing more than a heat-haze dams the water which should be flowing through, allowing it to pass only through windows in the arch itself. Exactly why the dragons required that the water be dammed in this way, when instead they could have blocked it off with a wall of rock and air, is unknown - it is noticed, however, that the dam is undamagable in any way, magical or physical, so far tested.

The other remnants of the draconic era that are worthy of note are the infamous draconic artefacts - turning up, real or fake, in black markets across Daan. The Artefacts are not quite as recognisable as draconic architecture - most no longer work, or do nothing for those who cannot utilise Wild Magic, or those without draconic heritage - but many have the same smooth, bone-white appearance as draconic architecture does. Of course, most draconic artefacts are much too large to be used by humanoids anyway - jaw-blades, for example, sharpened armour positioned around the mouth and enhancing the wearer's ferocity and viciousness, are larger than your average human - but some are useful for stationary use.

Revenants

Revenants - otherwise known as Spooks, Haunts, Fades, Ghosts, Spectres and Spirits - are creatures who have, through a sense of duty, spite, or great longing, strengthened the connection between body and soul even beyond death. This is not the same as necromancy, as it is the soul's own choice, and a difficult one to make and go through with. When a bond is strong enough to prevent permanent death in this way, it is known as a revenant bond, and those affected by it are known as Revenants.

Revenants are not necessarily evil, or good, although some consider them horrific. Some revenants return to their bodies, but most haunt the area where they died or where their body is buried. Particularly strong revenants can leave these areas for short spaces of time. Once a revenant's duty is over - killing the man who murdered it, for example - it finally makes its delayed journey beyond the Dark Gates.

Revenants possess many strange powers, including the ability to become invisible on a whim, move things without a single touch, possess corpses and return to their bodies, fully regenerated, if destroyed. Only by helping a Revenant fulfill its task, or by destroying its body using holy methods, is it possibly to utterly destroy it.

The Undead

The Undead are beings whose souls have been returned to their bodies, often unwillingly, from beyond the Soulwall. This is not the same as being a Revenant - it is not a choice that the undead makes. A necromancer, instead, takes a corpse and uses magical power to reconnect soul and body - tying them together temporarily or permanently. Although an undead will never have the same powers as a Revenant, bonds can be tied in different ways to enhance the abilities of an undead. If a bond is tied strongly enough, a single scrap of flesh is enough to keep the soul  fighting on - as occurred with Sat'rak's army.

[Wensleydale]

The Geography of Tandhus

The Tandhus archipelago stretches in a rough circle across a five-hundred mile radius, with its largest and vastest island, Ak'run, at four-hundred miles long at its furthest points, and its smallest island, Di'zuk, at only half a mile long at its widest points. The entire archipelago consists of two-hundred and thirty islands of varying sizes.

The islands are filled with volcanic activity, both aquatic and landbound, and both Ak'run and the third-largest island, Dekroz, are notably dominated by large volcanoes of this type. The islands are also scattered with geysers and hot springs, concentrated across the central band. T'Azak Ruksha, or Steam Rock, has a particularly large amount of geysers and hot springs, thus its name.

Most of the islands have only sparse vegetation, other than Ak'run and other islands surrounding it, which are home to small forests of rainforest-type plants. T'Azak Ruksha is also home to certain forms of plant life, although not in much density, although what land there is is highly fertile.

Animal life is mostly concentrated on the large islands, although some amphibious animals make their home on the smaller rocks. The most notable types of animal life populating the archipelago are reptilian, such as the Akt, or insectoid - of which there are thousands of species. Particularly virile and despised are the numerous mosquitoes, who don't bother the Duer but attack their animals and visitors.

On the civilised geography side, the northern end of the archipelago is fortified, with a long wall of connected bridges and barriers, interspersed with towers, going almost unbroken for the entire northern width. This wall is ten metres thick for almost its entire length, and connects the fortresses of Shakraz, on the island of Ak'run, and Duraz, on the island of Sveltak. Settlement is scattered across the islands equally, although population density is thicker in the north, with 150 Duer/Mile in some areas. Most of the cities are built around the enormous natural harbour of Dun, at the northern end of the archipelago, at which the seawall has its only break.

[LordVreeg]

Yay, thread murder!

[blockquote=creature from the black]The Undead

The Undead are beings whose souls have been returned to their bodies, often unwillingly, from beyond the Soulwall. This is not the same as being a Revenant - it is not a choice that the undead makes. A necromancer, instead, takes a corpse and uses magical power to reconnect soul and body - tying them together temporarily or permanently. Although an undead will never have the same powers as a Revenant, bonds can be tied in different ways to enhance the abilities of an undead. If a bond is tied strongly enough, a single scrap of flesh is enough to keep the soul fighting on - as occurred with Sat'rak's army.[/blockquote]

What powers undead here?  what is the source of necromancy here?  I see what it does, ties and binds a 'soul' to a body, but where is the power source to bind them?  
Samwe with elementals, what is the energy source for them?  I was looking in the post 'souls, sahu, and amenta, and what i get out of this is that the soul is a power source in and of itself for these?

on what scale are the draconic and their artififacts?  didd they have  (or do they have ) a culture?

You mention bound and free magic.  I'll open a damn pandora and ask what system you are using for these.

Consider your thread endangered.

 

[Wensleydale]

All righty, some questions to answer!

What powers undead here? what is the source of necromancy here? I see what it does, ties and binds a 'soul' to a body, but where is the power source to bind them?

uses magical power to reconnect soul and body[/quote]Samwe with elementals, what is the energy source for them? [/quote]on what scale are the draconic and their artififacts? didd they have (or do they have ) a culture?[/quote]You mention bound and free magic. I'll open a damn pandora and ask what system you are using for these.[/quote]

Haha. Hahaha. My own. If I can ever get around to posting it up, I will, but there're a lot of modifications made to normal DnD. *nods*

[Wensleydale]

The Great Duer Nation

The following section will give detailed descriptions of some of the major settlements and locations of T'Zatak'az Durin, Nation of the Tandhus archipelago, including the Wall, Greathold, Zatak'om, draconic ruins and Hariiji settlements. Firstly, though, an overview of the Nation itself.

Capital: T'Rin Dakar, Greathold.
Ruling Body: The Council of Seven.
Government System: Republic.
Population: 3,356,000 (76% Duer, 10% Humans, 10% Elves, 3% Daemon-Related, 1% Hariij.
Official Language: Sharuss.
Imports: Slaves, Food supplies.
Exports: Slaves, Gold, Silver.

[LordVreeg]

All righty, some questions to answer!

What powers undead here? what is the source of necromancy here? I see what it does, ties and binds a 'soul' to a body, but where is the power source to bind them?

uses magical power to reconnect soul and body

Samwe with elementals, what is the energy source for them? [/quote]on what scale are the draconic and their artififacts? didd they have (or do they have ) a culture?[/quote]You mention bound and free magic. I'll open a damn pandora and ask what system you are using for these.[/quote]


OK, as to the first few, what you are telling me is that the soul is the power source itself in this setting.  I was asking where the power came from.  A 'natural ability to manipulate the elements' is, by any dessected semantics, saying really ' a natural ability to manipulate an elemental energy source'.  

And we still ahve to work on this one.
 

where is the power source to bind them?

uses magical power to reconnect soul and body[/quote]

The necromancer uses certain magics to rebind the soul to its body.

I ask the power source of a magic, and the 2 answers are 'magical power' and 'certain magics'.  I am trying to ask what the 'magical power' and 'certain magics' are, and what powers them.  I'm one of those wierd guys who likes to know how things work.  I hagve my own cosmology set up so I know how every type of spell is powered.

I'm still interested in the dragon culture.  Do any of the dragons today remember it?


Keep up the good worl  I like this setting.  We can get into your magic system any time you want.

[Wensleydale]

OK, as to the first few, what you are telling me is that the soul is the power source itself in this setting.  I was asking where the power came from.  A 'natural ability to manipulate the elements' is, by any dessected semantics, saying really ' a natural ability to manipulate an elemental energy source'.  

And we still ahve to work on this one.

I ask the power source of a magic, and the 2 answers are 'magical power' and 'certain magics'.  I am trying to ask what the 'magical power' and 'certain magics' are, and what powers them.  I'm one of those wierd guys who likes to know how things work.  I hagve my own cosmology set up so I know how every type of spell is powered.

I'm still interested in the dragon culture.  Do any of the dragons today remember it?[/quote]

Hrm. That's something I haven't really given thought to. Certainly, the majority of modern dragons do not remember it - although there may be a few ancients still hidden away somewhere. That could provide an interesting plothook.

Overall, your questions are extremely useful. I'm editing the magic section to reflect some of these answers.

[Wensleydale]

Greathold

Ownership: Ishmael Dakrathuk, King of Duer.
Population: 11000 (96% Duer, 4% Human).
Military Force: 6200 (98% Duer Armsmen, 1% Human slaves and mercenaries)
Produces: Weapons, Supplies.

Greathold (Sharuss: Duerom Lùndùlur, Hariij: Na Duriitna Mali, Kheprerven: Adwira) is a colossus, an enormous city-fortress built in the old Duer style. It serves dually as a stronghold and a capital city, and is one of the oldest structures in T'Zatak'az Durin.

Location

Greathold is placed near to the centre of the Archipelago, atop an otherwise bare island-rock which even before Greathold's construction was a haven for the Duer. It is many miles east of the Wall, and south of the huge artificial port of the North.

Construction

Greathold is built on flat plateaus of rock cut from the mountainside by Free Mages of hundreds of years past, in the old Duer style of fortress - namely short, wide, round towers topped by immensely broad domes. It is a dark shade of purple - close to black, in fact - and inside, there is no lighting, as such things are not required by Duer. The domes have no visible entrances on the exterior, and are instead connected via a system of underground road-tunnels. On a wide, equally circular plateau in the open air, lower only than the main fortress-dome itself, are several fields growing various crops - although most of these crops go into storage under magical protection. Some other areas on the island also grow crops - these, too, are open-air. These fields are connected into the tunnel system via concealed, armoured, and gated entrances. Most of the food eaten by the city, however, instead comes from reptilian and mammal meat and milk (said beasts being large, underground stock bred in caves underneath the fortress) and various fungi which are a staple of the Duer diet. Some foods are imported, but the city can survive independently during times of siege, and has in the past.

To enter Greathold, you must first enter the dock - another cavern under the fortress, extended via construction - through enormous gates, capable of taking any Duer-made ship. These gates work as a set of six thick portcullises - one behind the other, each of a height equal to one-sixth of the gate's height. When the gate is shut, these pieces are lowered, one behind the other, via immense chains - forming a barrier tall enough to block the entire harbour. Once the pieces are in place, a colossal system of slave-powered gears slides each piece forward, inch by inch, into place beneath the top one - forming a single, unbroken surface. These gates are one of the prides of Greathold and the Wonders of T'Zatak'az Durin.

Once you have entered the dock, you must then climb up a set of stairs - lit, for the benefit of non-Duer - from long before the fortress was built, a relic, in fact, of Duer engineering. These stairs are covered in near-indecipherable writing in an ancient dialect of Sharuss, and are a fascinating artefact for scholars. The writing on the steps is mostly old religious lines and charms to protect from evil (Duer of that period were extremely superstitious, and this combined with the advent of Free Magic, which uses Duer words in its invocations, led to this sort of thing being repeated in Duer buildings across Atakir and the Tandhus Archipelago). Some of it appears to be historical records of the construction of the steps and the flight from the mainland. Gates, added by the constructors of Greathold, protect the top and bottom of this staircase.

The top of the staircase opens into a single large dome, known as the 'Foreign District'. This dome, built across the site of old Duer fields, serves as accomodation for non-Duer visitors, residents, mercenaries, and also some Duer merchants who wish to sell visitors things. For non-slave foreigners, this is the last stop. Further areas of Greathold can only be accessed by Duer. Past this are fourteen more domes, including a dome for each of the Great Houses, and a fifteenth, huge, even thicker dome, at the top of the island, surrounded by a thick wall. This is the real Greathold, and holds many magical artefacts of the old Duer.

History

Greathold has always been a haven for Duer - first settled during the Great Migration into the Tandhus Archipelago after the fall of the dragons, and used on-and-off as a fortress and retreat since then. The great stairway from the docks (then a natural cavern, presumably accessable through a cave) to the now-foreign district dates from only fifty years after the settlement, and is a wonder of non-magical architecture. It is claimed that Shadurn Tuk stayed here for a short time, although this may be untruth - it is certain that AN archmage stayed here, however, to have created the plateaus as they now are. It is known that only the lower, natural plateaus were colonised until something alike to two-hundred years after the original founding.

At that point, an individual known as 'The Battlewitcher' by the Duer of that period came and founded a permanent city there. It is unknown who this 'Battlewitcher' was, although an apprentice of Shadurn Tuk, Zakariak, is known for his theories on Free Magic in battle, and was known to be in the area at the time. Whoever he was, he formed the current plateaus, built the fortress of Greathold itself and established an official city.

The later domes were built by his various followers and descendants as dwellings for their own people, which eventually amalgamated into the fourth Tribe, now House Dakrathuk. Dakrathuk held Greathold through eight separate wars with the new Hariij Empire, during which the Great Gates were devised by Shan'akuz Dakrathuk and assembled in fifty years of magically aided construction. After the Housewar, however, Dakrathuk was forced to secede control of Greathold for various war crimes, and the first Council Hall was built there. As a gift in exchange for Greathold, Ishmael Dakrathuk, Ninth of the House, was made new King of all Duer - although this gift was more of an insult, as the title of King was one enforced upon them by the Hariij as a peace treaty, and had always been more of a figurehead and ambassadorial role. The only benefit gained from this for Dakrathuk was that it was allowed to maintain control of the fortress itself in addition to its own House district, a slight dampener to their loss.

The first act of the newly founded Council Hall was to make T'Zatakaz Durin, before just a word for the Free Duer of the Tandhus Archipelago, into an actual nation, with Greathold as its capital. Secondly, it decreed that the lowest Dome be set aside for foreigners, if they wished it, and that they could trade there with the Duer of Greathold, but not go any further than this into the fortress. Thirdly, it established the Speaking Forum, a place where votes were taken amongst the Minor Houses, allowing them to make decisions as a whole (although the votes are open to corruption, and often are). These decrees are enforced to the current day.

[LordVreeg]

Ownership: Ishmael Dakrathuk, King of Duer.
Population: 11000 (96% Duer, 4% Human).
Military Force: 6200 (98% Duer Armsmen, 1% Human slaves and mercenaries)
Produces: Weapons, Supplies.

Over half the pop is military, or is that separate?  Assuming that the duer are incredibly, heavily martial, and that you are accounting for half the population in the militia, that is an extremely high percentage of total population as part of the military.  

Love the dock set up (reminds me of old melnibone, and the sea maze), and the duer food-fungi/  How do they prepaer it?  meat-mushrooms?

Have you worked out what the writing on the steps says?
And what is the population makeup in the foreign district?

[Wensleydale]

Right.

The military force is separate. :P

Duer food in Greathold normally consists of several different types of mushroom/edible underground plant, a small hunk of bread (usually imported) and some cooked meat, yes.

The writing on the steps is mostly old religious lines and charms to protect from evil (Duer of that period were extremely superstitious, and this combined with the advent of Free Magic, which uses Duer words in its invocations, led to this sort of thing being repeated in Duer buildings across Atakir and the Tandhus Archipelago). Some of it appears to be historical records of the construction of the steps and the flight from the mainland.

In the merchant district, permanent residents are 65% Duer, 17% Humans, 26% Elves, and 5% other (including Hariij, Khetau, the occasional hobgoblin and even a few Eldritch). Most of the foreign residents are there only temporarily, or only sometimes, and these are more like 65% elves, 25% human, 5% Duer and 5% other. The Duer are traders from other outposts, often Houseless, who prefer to or find it easiest to stay in the Foreign District, even though there is accomodation further in.

[Wensleydale]

Xatak'om

Ownership: House Ama'thuuk.
Population: 4,000 (100% Duer).
Military Force: 1000 (100% Duer Armsmen).
Produces: Nothing.

Xatak'om is the only island totally barred to non-Duer in the entire nation of T'Zatak'az Durin. Its name literally means 'To the dead', and that is what it is - a Duer burial site. The island is riddled with tunnels, and into them, carefully mummified and bound in Free Magic to preserve them, are the dead of thousands upon thousands of years of Duer. It is a holy place of sorts, and is as old in use as Greathold, perhaps older, although the structures cannot claim such an honour.

Location

Xatak'om is within half a mile of Greathold, visible from the fortress, and is about as close to the centre of the archipelago. The island is often shrouded in mist, mostly due to T'Darova Xatok, the Watcher over the Dead, an immense, frequently-erupting geyser. It suffers no particularly strong weather, other than the constant heat of the entire archipelago.

Construction

Xatak'om is not so much a building as a tunnel system, although there are patterns to it. A single, vertical shaft enters the catacombs - a shaft leading down into an immensely hot underground lake which occasionally is disrupted enough to shoot pillars of water high, high above the shaft, but mostly just gives off steam. This shaft is the main vent of T'Darova Xatok, the immense 'geyser' which is the cause of the cloud of steam often surrounding the island. Rough, often water-slicked steps lead down the shaft, and sealed doors lead off at intervals into the tunnels proper. The catacombs themselves were designed from the beginning as they are now, and thus, the oldest graves are near the lake itself. The tunnels are not organised by family, or clan, or House, but rather by age, or at least arrival date. Each of the levels has a large amount of free magic pressed into the preservation of corpses, which of course requires constant meditation to uphold. The T'Darovar Xatak'om, Watchers of the Tombs, hold the sacred duty of maintaining the magic by constant meditation. Each section of the tunnels possesses a Watcher for the Dawn, a Watcher for the Dusk, a Watcher for the Noontime and a Watcher for Midnight. These four act in synchronisation, each taking care of a six-hour period, beginning three hours before their title's time and ending three hours afterward. Dawn is considered to be six of the morningtime, whilst Dusk is six of the eveningtime.

Above the shaft, a short distance away from it, several buildings stand - a shrine to the Ancestors, several barracks for the tomb guardians (soldiers given into service by the Houses), blocks of living quarters for the Watchers, the Office of the Tombs (the administrative centre and training facility for the Watchers) and a small bazaar which sells creatures for sacrifice and various other religious items.

History

Surprisingly, Xatak'om has little actual history of interest. It was recognised as holy by the first Duer to arrive at Tandhus, and has always since been used as a burial site. Some of the older tombs are not preserved, but Shadurn Tuk's apprentice, Abram, taught the preservatory magic required to do so to a group of mages on the island and founded the Watchers of the Tombs. He was also responsible for most of the recruitment and construction on the island. After his era, however, very little happened on Xatak'om, apart from one attempted invasion by a small party of Hariij troops that sneaked past border guards (repelled), up until the Housewar.

Of course, during the Housewar, Xatak'om was an extremely desirable prize. Such a holy site would grant the holding House much prestige and influence - as well as the power to deny other Duer the right to bury their dead. It was first captured by House Ama'thuuk, but through backstabbing and assaults it was captured and then passed three times between houses Dakrathuk and Shanakeh within the duration of the war. Near to the end of the war, sensing an end to their right to capture as they wished, Ama'thuuk mounted a powerful assault on Xatak'om's House defences, and recaptured it, holding it 'for holy purposes'. The Guardians, which were ruthlessly executed and replaced with men of the capturing house each time Xatak'om was taken, were instead this time made to swear oaths to Ama'thuuk and were supplemented by Ama'thuuk's own men. Since then, Guardians have been taken from every house, although they must swear a bond of allegiance to Ama'thuuk for their time on the island, and a bond of allegiance to the dead also. Even after the Housewar, Ama'thuuk retained control of the island, and still continues to in the present day. With the war gone, though, not as many dead require burial - and thus some of their influence was lost.

[Wensleydale]

Mazak'om

Ownership: House Velde'ek.
Population: 420,000 (50% Duer, 20% elves, 20% humans, 5% hobgoblins, 5% other)
Military Force: 6000 (50% Duer Armsmen, 20% Mercenary Troops, 20% Mixed-Race Guardsmen, 10% Hariij Loaned Troops)
Produces: Silver.

Mazak'om (Sharuss, Hariij: Na Muz'Valiij, Mererven: Ne Dwur Anoza) is a vast trading city where Hariiji and Mererven are spoken as commonly as Sharuss. It is by far the largest settlement in the Tandhus Archipelago, and is also known as the 'Bright Gate'. Its name means 'To the Foreigners', and it is an apt title.

Location

Mazak'om is built along a long strip of coastline and cliffs along the immense artificial port of Tuk, built to take best advantage of the trade coming inward.

Construction

Mazak'om is built in several different styles. The cliffs themselves are dug out, with many tiered houses built into the rock, in the old Duer style of purple, magically-formed rock, and these, ironically, are home to both the lowest and highest classes, manor-dwellers and slaves. The manor are generally higher up, whilst the slaves' quarters are in the underbelly of the city. Above the cliffs, on the plateaus above these tiered houses, are built multiple newer constructions - mostly in the more modern Duer style of mundane rock cubes and domes. Finally, amongst the docks and beaches of the city, where the temporary or poorer foreign residents live,  the Hariij style of onion-domed towers and the more daemonic red and gold geometric shapes prevail, as well as hundreds of thousands of shanties and shacks. The greatest palace, home of House Velde'ek, is constructed of six domes in a circle at the easternmost end of the city.