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| Eight of Pentacles: a Noble of Leagh. |
The rules section of Chariot is done, and is out with some of my friends for Alpha Playtest; the Beta Playtest will have a wider audience. Now, well. Now I am writing about the world. My son David, a pretty gifted cartographer, made me an amazing map, that I'm working with. Everything has a place. It is the fun part. So Here's the introduction to the section on Atlantis.
Atlantis
Atlantis, the Western Continent, is the most populated of the lands, and politically the most complex, its dizzying variety of city states and vassal nations each having their own stories, their own peoples, their own secrets.
This past century, Atlantis has harboured its conflicts, too. When the Menocean general Oduarpa became the first to recognise his Fate, he seized the throne from the rightful Rai Helio Arcanaphus, son of Gwauxin, son of Menax. Helio Arcanaphus, a rarefied philosopher of a king, retreated north, and the banner of Incal, once united, either flies white or black.
The Northern regions, Ruta and Portea, declare for the White Sun. The shadow-capitol, Keriophis, lies there, and Hollowbridge, centre of the slave trade. Machine-producing Caiphul stands with Helio Arcanaphus, and Menocea, City of the Mirrorskins, has declared against its most famous child, flying the White Banner, for the moment.
In the South, ancient concentric Chalidocean, City of Golden Gates, greatest and most glorious of the cities of the world, seat of empire is now the centre of the Black Banner, and the Bestials run free and wild through its avenues. The Akâshic Colleges near Kudra claim to be independent of either faction, but fewer of the Lawkeepers travel North every year, and those who do are not what they were. The Southern Cities were always stranger, more idiosyncratic, more prone to experiment with science and magic: the people of Cercenes, who maintain a symbiotic relationship with the Unity Vine, were always going to declare for the Black Sun. Eojora, the ageless Witch-Queen of Leagh values the freedom the Black Sun has given to turn defiant slaves into empty, compliant thralls with biology and music. The loveless, brutal evolutionism and warlike nature of the Blue Women of the Isle of Mentis makes their allegiance to Oduarpa no surprise.
The seven floating islands of Qeraf that dominate the skies of Kintrala haven't declared either way, and although Queen Anamanthalis's diplomatic relations have always been more cordial with the Rai, Oduarpa has begun to make overtures of marriage, for he has no Empress. Espeid, meanwhile, both factions shun Espeid, as has always been the way.