Chapter IV · The World
The Continent
Five nations share the continent of Eldriloch, and none of them trusts the others. Between them lie the Razorspine Mountains, the Drifter Plains and the Fiend's Chasm, a wound in the world that is half lava and half ice. A floating railway built by the runekar once tied every city together. Now whole sections of it are gone, and the sky between Adryae and Staerhiel is full of airships, escorts and the privateers who hunt them.
What the War Changed
The map shows the continent as it is now. Two things are different from the map of a century ago. The rail through the Dryarwood Forest, between Sherfield in Adryae and Ashborne in Ethon, is gone, so no train runs from Adryae to the east or south anymore. And the border between Ethon and Staerhiel has moved north: Caerdydd and Murkwell, once Ethonian, are now Staerhiel's. See Before and After the War.
The Nations
| Nation | Ruled By | Known For | Notable Places |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adryae | Citizen petitions, Arbitrators and Advocates | Technology, universities, airships, the souldriven | Solaris, Tepor Islands, Drifter Plains |
| Ethon | Regnant Sovereigni Daphyra | Warriors, fibrolite, the ashen | Ashborne City, Fiend's Chasm, Wolfpine |
| Staerhiel | Regnant Sovereigni Gilirak | Mines, the largest territory, a looming civil war | Caerdydd, Lockinge, Murkwell, Silverkeep |
| Usmon | The Councils, chief among them the Council of Arcanum | Artifacts, monasteries, Justicars, neutrality | Peltragow, Runswick, Dawsbury, Myrefall |
| Thaela | Nomadic tribes | Dense jungle, aggressive tribes | Calcheth, Larkinge |
| The Open Reaches | No one | Freedom, privateers, smugglers, a life without class | The gulf, the Tepor Islands, the high air lanes |
The Shape of the World
Wealth and Class
Across every nation, people sort themselves into two cultures that distrust and loathe each other. The Sovereigni, the ruling class and the most prestigious engineers, live in luxury and believe their place is a birthright that the Sullied would pollute. The Sullied are everyone else, which is nearly everyone, and they struggle to survive. A Sullied who grows rich is stripped and knocked back down. In war-torn towns, the Sovereigni build their districts in the center, with the Sullied housed in rings around them as a buffer. See Sovereigni and Sullied.
Power and Corruption
Power in Eldriloch tempts and corrupts, and yet nothing gets done without it. Rulers hoard artifacts, nations bargain with the exspiratis, and well-meaning people strike deals they come to regret. Even its heroes argue over whether nobility means high birth or high principles.
Religious Control
The Celestial Covenant gives people hope and keeps them in check. It is governed by a select few, and its faith rests on feeling rather than intellect. Its Wardens see to it that nobody asks too many questions about where flux really comes from. The Covenant is the only power that rivals the Sovereigni, because it controls belief, and every ruler has learned to work with it rather than against it. See The Covenant and the Sovereigni.
What Makes a Soul?
In Eldriloch, a soul is energy focused into a specific pattern. When a person dies, the soul returns to a pool and loses its memories but keeps the core of who it was. In time it returns to inhabit a new body. A soul can keep part of a previous pattern, which is how reincarnation works, and it can blend with other patterns. True death comes only when nothing of the pattern remains. This question sits at the heart of the debate over the souldriven.
The Resource Everyone Needs
Fibrolite powers every machine on the continent, and nearly all of it comes from the Fiend's Chasm, where only ashen can mine safely. The fibrolite industry depends on the exspiratis it fears, and some powerful people want the souldriven kept in service to hold the ashen in check. Shadow wars over access to the Chasm are already under way.
Wild Regions
Fiend's Chasm. The scar left by the Dark Sunder, in Ethon. Lava fields burn in the west and solid ice lies to the east. See Ethon.
Razorspine Mountains. Rich in ore but dangerous to mine. Most of Staerhiel's mines lie outside them for good reason.
Eldritch Mountains. A wall that nothing crosses, guarding Usmon's west coast. A single canyon pass, followed by the rail line, cuts through to Runswick.
Drifter Plains, Dryarwood Forest, Crystal Plains, Crystal Lake, Silvertip Mountains, Lake of Sorrow, Swamp of Pestilence. Named regions of the continent described in their nations' entries.
Wolfpine. A busy rail town in Ethon, known for its markets of mechanical limbs and gadgets, and for the souldriven restructuring plant on its outskirts.
