Gelaand: The World of a Thousand Isles

[Family Amasticia]

Well, this will be my first post. My friends and I have been working on a world in which we play in over time and it develops in game. This first post will be the overview, and the fleshing out comes in following posts. It should be stated that this world is in attempt to be unique yet realistic in its own way. Feedback is always appreciated.

 

Powerful States

Distanavia '" A powerful republic, its grip stretching far with many Isles under its protection and rule.

 

Val'Syra '" A small empire that none the less is a force to be reckoned with. It harbors some of the largest Spires in known Gelaand.

 

North Hastilia '" A monarchy on a forest cover Isle. Previously part of Hastilia before the connector between North and South Hastilia was destroyed in the Crusader Wars between the two nations.

 

South Hastilia '" Mountainous terrain covers much of this Isle, an alliance between dwarves and men that produces some of the most vicious military airships in existence.

 

Salvian Holy Empire '" A religious state/empire working on converting the rest of Gelaand in a join us or die mentality.

 

Calrazan '" A nation under the rule of a string of dictators which uses its power to keep the people oppressed but keeping their military arm strong. Other states tend to ignore Calrazan because of its lack of strategic and economic value, turning a blind eye to the troubles burdened on its people.

 

Most commonly recognized Religions

Salvian (salviism) '" The religion spread by the Salvian Holy Empire embracing a tradition of salvation by becoming one with the Spires of the world. The unbelievers are seen as unclean.

 

Melestian (melestinism) '" A prominent religion that the Maelstrom is in fact a Deity that keeps the Evil below it at bay. It features the Maelstrom as prime and the elements as demigods.

 

Arcanian (arcanism) '" The most practiced religion on Gelaand is the fundamental belief Arcane magic and how it permeates all existence. Its basic teachings teach that the spirit of a person is in fact a personalized spell cast during procreation. The fabric of existence is created out of magic and is all around instead of magic being granted from a higher deity.

 

Verenian (serenism) '" This religious practice is perhaps more common with smaller communities and families more withdrawn from civilization. It is a pantheon of a multitude of deities from child bearing and family, to death, to magic, and to despair. They are a fairly superstitious lot and many families venerate a particular deity but pay homage to the religion as a whole.

 

Shadarian (shadarism) '" The religion practiced by the Shadari believe that their soul is located in their shadow (which is furthered by the fact that their shadows rarely do what they do). It teaches living a good life and finding balance between the Light and the Dark; the two defining principles that are practiced.

 

(There will be a religion practiced by the Drez-Narok in particular, but has yet to be named but will be tribal based.)

 

Key points to Gelaand

Spires '" On the center of every Isle is a Spire. A spire is a mountainous point which has the functions inside to produce water and is also the source of Gossamer Crystals, the power source of Airships and most modern technologies.

 

Oceans of Air '" Where our planet, Earth, has vast bodies of water called oceans Gelaand does not have these. It has instead expansive empty spaces where nothing but air lies underneath and after a few miles of clouds the Maelstrom lies. These are notably called Aircens.

 

The Maelstrom '" This is continuous storm of awesome power which prevents airships from venturing to the depths of the Aircens. Incredible winds, harsh rains, varied temperatures (ranging from -70f to 180f), and impressive displays of lightning. Any on land weather such as down pours and snow fall all originates from the Maelstrom as it builds pressure pockets and releases it much like a volcano.

 

Isles '" The largest bodies of land are very rarely over 1500 miles across and wide. There are a few as small as 1 mile across and wide. Each has its own Spire which generates fresh water (though not always enough for the entire land mass). It should be noted that while no actual bodies of water the size of our oceans are to be found, there are many lakes and rivers that spread out from the Spires. A few lakes are even water that collects from Maelstrom bursts.

 

Gunpowder '" Only a single century has passed since the advent of gunpowder and the age of the firearm. Still in its early stages with single shot muskets and cannons, it has none the less revolutionized the world of combat.

 

Resource Wars '" A spire creates water by combining the gossamer crystals inside of it with the radioactive yu-water. When the gossamer crystals are removed, it begins to slow the process of water creation. As gossamer are created over hundreds of thousands of years from the crystallization of yu-water, it poses a problem when the crystals are extracted en masse the water creation slows and eventually halts. This provides problems a plenty with Isles, usually turning it into a barren wasteland within a few short months as all the water dries up. This was learned the hard way early on when the mining first began, and many entire large nations were turned into deserts. In these modern times, mining teams are sent farther out over the Aircens to find remote, unpopulated Isles to harvest the Gossamer Crystals dry. It turns these Isles desolate of course, but the Gossamer is needed for ships and modern day amenities. It isn't common for nations to have little wars over newly discovered Isles with enormous spires. [/font]

[Jharviss]

I'm trying to get a solid picture here of what this world is.

It's not anywhere near a normal world.  It isn't round, there isn't water, it's not even connected.  Rather, it seems like there was a world once that exploded and left the maelstrom at its core, and now chunks of the world are floating around it, called islands?  And each island has a spire?  

Or it is mostly round, there's just a maelstrom in the middle?  Or is it flat with a maelstrom in the middle?  How is gravity defined?

Yes.  Tell me about races.

On a side-note:  The names Hastilia and Val'syra seem familiar to me.  I'm not sure why.