The Land of Rivers
The humans of the Land of Rivers and the moonvipers share the territory of the serpent delta, living in mixed villages and cities in harmony. The land is divided up into four provinces known as Phases, each named after different types of moons. The pull of the tides is strongest here, causing dramatic shifts in water level throughout the day as the moons move through the sky.
The country is currently divided between Perigee loyalists (highlighted in blue on the map) and the Southern League (in red), a new faction founded in February 504 by the mayors of Fallingstar, Attero, Maiestas and Vincit whose goal is to form a proper military force to defend against raids from Xocrian knights and protect the future and lives of the Land of Rivers’ citizens. |
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Golden Phase
The Golden Phase is the home of the capital of the Land of Rivers. It is veined with dozens of rivers that make up the serpent delta, with fertile but marshy soil.
Background from Unsplash.
Luna
City name: Luna
Ruler: Mayor Actaeon ab Intra, allied with the Perigee
Founded: ??? B.A. (Before Adeodatus)
Region: Golden Phase
The largest of the cities in the Land of Rivers, Luna was shaped out of dozens of massive glacial erratics deposited in the region by the Realm’s long ago Ice Age. It is the home of the Great Temple, the headquarters of the Perigee and the seat of the current Ephemeris.
It has expanded greatly over the past centuries since being established and is one of the only walled cities in the Land of Rivers, and is home to a variety of gardens and other public spaces.
The Moondial - A large, circular structure of solid stone, with the various zodiac signs of the Realm carved into the edges, somewhat similar in appearance to a big sundial. The moons, at a certain time every night, will cast a shadow on the sign for the month. A massive piece of moonstone lays in the center where the eggs are placed, with a stone ‘lip’ around it to prevent them from rolling away. Perhaps a dozen or so may fit at one time.
Attero
City name: Attero
Ruler: Mayor Caralisa Libra, allied with the Southern League
Founded: Village founded 45 B.A., became a city in 33 A.E.D.
Region: Golden Phase
Attero is the largest trade city in the Land of Rivers. It began as a humble fishing village before, a meteor fell nearby and created a sheltered natural harbour with its impact. It provided the town with a great opportunity and has shaped it into the wealthiest place in the entire country.
The trade connections Adeodatus’ empire had made in the years since its foundation were a great boon to Attero’s development from fishing town to port city, and although they were somewhat hard-pressed to recover after the empire began to decline in power, recovered after a few decades. Today, merchants from Meros and Padwell frequent its markets regularly. Along the shoreline are large warehouses used to store imported goods before they can be sent inland to the other Phases of the Land of Rivers.
An organization known as the Serpents polices the city, protecting it from smugglers, criminals, raiding knights and Division members.
Along with Fallingstar, Maiestas and Vincit, Attero forms the Southern League, a new military faction in the Land of Rivers determined to protect its borders from Xocrian attacks.
Fallingstar
Town name: Fallingstar
Ruler: Mayor Discite Justitiam Moniti, allied with the Southern League
Founded: 59 A.E.D.
Region: Golden Phase
The city of Fallingstar recently weathered an assault by knights of Xocrium, intent on taking out the town’s leader, Discite. Through December 503 and into January 504, the city’s defenders and allies from across Theavia withstood the attack and drove the Xocrian soldiers and knights south, back across the border, in the first victory the Land of Rivers has seen since the time of Adeodatus.
Along with Maiestas, Attero and Vincit, Fallingstar forms the Southern League, a new faction in the Land of Rivers determined to protect its borders from Xocrian attacks.
Although much of the city is in ruins from more than a century of constant raids from the south, the success seen in January 504 has allowed them time to raise more permanent defenses, with the runesmith Padus Justitiam Moniti and his familiar, Verity, beginning to repair the ancient stone walls that once protected Fallingstar. Inside the city walls, families begin to clear rubble and bodies, and slowly the town is turning from a war zone into, perhaps, a place of safety for future generations.
Word of events in Fallingstar has travelled across the Land of Rivers, proof perhaps that the moonvipers and riverlander people can stand up to Xocrium and win. They do not have to hide and allow the knights from the south to do as they please for fear of provoking them… maybe, just maybe, if they stand up for themselves, they can stop the raids for good. Discite has been taking advantage of this small shift in perspective and reaching out to other cities in the Land of Rivers, foremost being Maiestas and its militia, to create alliances. The Perigee fears that she may attempt to supplant them in the region, but contrary to their official declaration that they condemn the violence in the city, one of their number, a Moon Child named Haffligiensis ex Nihilo, has declared her support for Fallingstar and Discite.
The Dead City
Landmark name: The Dead City, formerly the city of Cadere
Abandoned: 424 A.E.D., after the Sack of Cadere
Region: Golden Phase
An abandoned city on the border between the Land of Rivers and Xocrium. Once called Cadere, now known only as ‘the Dead City’.
In 424 A.E.D, after years of raids and deaths, the citizens decided to take a stand against the next attack by Xocrian knights. The battle was a massive failure that resulted in a great fire and the death of most of the fighters. Those who managed to escape fled to Fallingstar, Luna, and Maiestas.
The city has since become a popular spot for Xocrians to camp while on dragon-hunting excursions into the Land of Rivers. Some daring moonvipers have layered the remaining stonework with as many terrifying memories that they can to ward off these trespassers, and the ruins are widely considered haunted as a result.
Silver Phase
Making up the northern half of the serpent delta and bordering with the darklings, the Silver Phase shares a similar, albeit colder, climate as the Golden Phase. The majority of the Land of Rivers’ population dwells here, as the distance makes attacks from Xocrium less frequent.
Background from Unsplash.
Urbs
City name: Urbs
Ruler: Mayor Felix Hic et Nunc, allied with the Perigee
Founded: ??? B.A.
Region: Silver Phase
One of the largest and most populous cities in the Land of Rivers, Urbs was sculpted out of a rocky hill generations ago and has been a central part of politics and culture in the region going back even before the Night of the Red Moons. The people of Urbs are proud of their city’s history, and there is a thriving culture of archaeology, storytelling, and discovery here.
Urbs itself is a city of many layers - literally. The city has been buried and reconstructed several times in the past, and layers of moonviper and Elder Drake constructions have been built on top of each other, providing rich grounds for excavations and study. During the excavation of an Elder-Drake-era sector of the city, a familiar terrifyingly close to the image of an Elder Drake was freed from ancient rubble thought to be from the Night of the Red Moons. Rather than answer questions or even thank the archeologists who had helped it, it ran off without a word.
Some say they have seen the golden familiar wandering the countryside, never stopping for long, as though it is searching for something.
Stranger still is the very deepest layers of Urbs’ construction. Neither Moonviper nor Elder Drake, who or what constructed the original city is a mystery lost to time. The buildings buries here bear eye patterns and have odd, unsettling shapes, and octopus-like beaks can be found scattered throughout. These old constructions make people… uncomfortable in their presence and are re-buried after archaeologists have finished with them.
Starstones
Landmark name: Starstones
Region: Silver Phase
A set of particularly impressive rocks that are exposed each day at low tide. There are layers of old memories worked into the rocks by ancient moonvipers, and historians both love and hate the place; there’s recollections here dating back to the time of Adeodatus, but only a few short hours each day to find them before the water comes rushing back in.
There are many similar rock formations along the coast of the Land of Rivers; the Starstones are simply the most well-known of them.
Harvest Phase
North of the Blue Phase, the Harvest Phase shares a border with the darklings and is some of the most fertile land in the Realm. There are a vast number of farms here.
Background from Unsplash.
Veritas
City name: Veritas
Ruler: Mayor Flavia Vera Causa, allied with the Perigee
Founded: 322 A.E.D.
Region: Harvest Phase
One of the youngest cities in the Land of Rivers, Veritas was founded less than two hundred years ago - which still makes it a fairly old settlement, but nothing compared to places like Urbs and Luna who have existed since a time before Elder Drake rule.
Veritas is unique for another reason; the city is entirely located in the treetops of the southern reaches of the darklings’ Old Growth Forest, constructed from wood and rope and entirely missing the stone structures that are more traditional for the region. It was built entirely without the aid of moonviper architects, and is an unusual but still quite lovely place.
The population of Veritas is primarily human, with a significant population of darklings who prefer life on the surface, as well as sundrakes - mostly refugees from the Great Plague and the Civil War that recently shook the kingdom.
Moonshadow
Town name: Moonshadow
Ruler: Mayor Glaucus Tuebor, allied with the Perigee
Founded: 211 A.E.D.
Region: Harvest Phase
Moonshadow was once a city of stoneworks and traditional moonviper architecture, until it collapsed into darklings’ caverns underneath the city in 463 A.E.D. Despite this disaster, Moonshadow has remained inhabited, as its residents simply adapted their lifestyles and homes to their changing environment rather than relocate elsewhere.
Sunlight still reaches down into the ‘pit’ in the afternoon and the people of the village have decorated the sides of the collapsed cavern town with layers of terraces and a river cascading down and into the furthest level of Moonshadow. The town is a serene and beautiful place, with lush public gardens in the spring and summer, and the sound of moving water can be heard at all times. Due to its calm environment and great distance from Xocrium’s borders, Moonshadow is often the place of choice to send those injured in clashes to recover from any trauma they might have, as well as a common place for those with small hatchlings and children to relocate until they’ve grown up.
Although the residents don’t like to venture into the darker caves further below where neither sunlight nor moonlight have ever reached, they still have a strong bond with their darkling neighbours.
Blue Phase
The Blue Phase is located on the mouth of the Serpent Delta and the coast of Lake Four-Shore. Despite the distance from the border, the lake and river allows knights from their aggressive southern neighbours to reach deep into the Land of Rivers to hunt moonvipers.
Background from Unsplash.
Maiestas
City name: Maiestas
Ruler: Mayor Lillianna Propria Manu, allied with the Southern League
Founded: Construction began 4 B.A., habitable by 33 A.E.D.
Region: Blue Phase
Adeodatus’ ancient stronghold, the capital of her glorious but short-lived empire, Maiestas is a relic of a bygone era. The modern Land of Rivers has no ambitions for conquest, so most of the old fortress city is abandoned. Along with Fallingstar, Attero and Vincit, Maiestas forms the Southern League, a new military faction in the Land of Rivers determined to protect its borders from Xocrian attacks.
The winters here are especially hard, but those who live within its walls are willing to endure it for the safety the ancient fortress provides, for even after its many years of abandonment it is still formidable. It has a small Temple, with a Moondial that was once broken, with three deep cracks cutting through its central moonstone, that rendered it useless for conveying the Sisters’ blessing. In the early months of 504, the runesmith Padus Justitiam Moniti and his familiar, Verity, repaired the cracked stone so that Moon Children might hatch in Maiestas once more.
The fort has a small militia of moonvipers and riverlanders who were trained by a stormherald mercenary captain and specialize in the use of non-lethal tactics to harass any Xocrians who try to enter the Land of Rivers. They make use of anything from fireworks to copious amounts of paint-bombs to discourage attacks. They are, however, willing to become violent if these fail to drive off their assailants.
Portrait of Adeodatus & Her Children - An extremely well-preserved fresco located in Maiestas’ city hall, covering an entire wall, and is immediately visible upon entry into the building, looming over those who approach. Features Adeodatus in her prime, framed on either side by her four sons and four daughters. All accounts suggest that it was created while she and her empire was still around.
Has been carefully touched-up over the years and is currently encased in a glass ‘box’ to protect it. Before, one could touch each dragon and get a vague sense of what they were like, due to powdered memory stone being mixed into the plaster while it was being painted.
Vincit
Town name: Vincit
Ruler: Mayor Zenobia Resurgam, allied with the Southern League
Founded: 41 A.E.D., repopulated in the 470s A.E.D.
Region: Blue Phase
Vincit was created by one of Adeodatus’ daughters, Princess Argenteus, and meant to be a beautiful place that would stand as a potential new capital for the empire. Rocks were painstakingly imported from the Sunflecked Reaches and sculpted into massive towers, magnificent houses, and an enormous Temple to the Moon Sisters.
A few decades after it was completed, the ground turned to mush under the weight of the massive buildings; Argenteus had chosen a terrible location for the city, and it was starting to sink back into the mud of the serpent delta.
It lay abandoned for many centuries, slowly returning to the mud, until it was recently reclaimed as a small village, as those returning from Padwell’s revolution had learned much about how to live in wet, marshy places. They used the stone foundations of the ancient buildings as secure places to tie down floating docks and houseboats. Vincit will never be a large population centre, but those who call it home get by well enough.
Adeodatus’ Triumph
Landmark name: Adeodatus’ Triumph
Constructed: completed 28 A.E.D.
Region: Blue Phase
An enormous pair of statues sit on either side of the mouth of the serpent delta, created by the moonvipers following the Night of the Red Moons. On one bank is a massive sculpture of Adeodatus, carved of silver stone with rubies for eyes. On the other, a pair of what is assumed to be Elder Drakes, clawing at eachother like rabid dogs.
It is… an unsettling sight, to say the least, but there are no memories inlaid into the stone, at least from when the statues were carved. It offers little insight into the true events of the Night of the Red Moons.