Atlas of the Known World

THE KNOWN WORLD

MAP OF STUFF

The majority of the denizens of the world reside in “The Belt”, where the temperate climate is ideal for civilization. The Belt is home to several major Human empires, counting among them The Gryphon States, Pallonweir, and the Thousand Kings. On the opposite side of the belt is housed the mighty and terrible Alfen Empire of The Alfryche. The Empire of Xiun is isolated from its closest neighbor, the Thousand Kings, by the impassibly violent region of micro-islands known as The Dragon's Teeth. The Belt is also home to varied civilizations of the “Elder Races”. While there are countless other societies in the belt, these are the largest. Each of these domains spreads across many individual islands. Travel between them is commonly in airships, but often on the backs of flying creatures. In the world of Yra, flight (manned or otherwise) is so commonplace as to be nearly a commodity. It is, however, an all-important resource without which life on many civilized islands would come to a screeching halt.

Peoples and Races of Yra

The majority of intelligent species on Yra dwell in the Belt, Yra's large temperate zone. Of the races found in the Belt, Mannish (human) peoples comprise the largest populace. The lands of men neighbor the oldest civilization in the world, that of the austere and byzantine Kolmorian Orcs. Once proud and mighty, the Dourlings ruled the lands beyond Kolmor as figures of myth and wonder until the coming of the Alfen, and the wars that decimated the half-men and threatened the Known World.

Below, in the Storm Zone, dwell civilizations beyond the reach and ken of the Belt's inhabitants, the far-wandering and canny Bugbears, and the Jihla lizard-folk. Above, in the Dark Zone, immovable and stern in the grandiose splendor of their ice palaces dwell the Dwarfs of Glormundi. Whispers, too, persist of other peoples hidden from view or lost to time and myth.

For more information on the races and peoples of Yra, see the Races Page.

The Gryphon States/UISG/Vedan Gryphon States

The mighty Vedan Gryphon States, formerly known as the "United Isle States of the Gryphon" were forged in war over three hundred years ago when Prince Hargennes of Vede trained the first Battle Gryphon, Galeph (named after the Demi-deva Galiphon) and marched forth from the Marcelline lands to conquer the known world. Establishing the Rookery on Gryphonrynge, he quickly cut a mighty swath through the disorganized Isles of Men and created an un-shake-able and jealously coveted kingdom through the power of his Gryphon Riders and air-fleet. The banners of the Graff once flew over the largest single human nation-state in the world. Wealthy, decadent, and over-expanded, the UISG faced a crisis of identity during the Second Devaic War, as Prince Ulish of the Blood attempted to overthrow his father Alinosh III at perhaps the worst possible time. When the coup was over and Alinosh lay dead, Ulish was assasinated and the country was taken by force and little effort by the navies of the Marcelline. The massive nation is now ruled as the Vedan Gryphon States by the original Hargennes bloodline.

Marcelline City-State of Vede

Home of the Hargennes line of Graff Kings and formerly the birthright and prize of the ruler of the Gryphon States, the Isle of Vede (pronounced Ved) was previously lost to the crown in a botched betrothal and was, for 126 years, an independent Kingdom. The lush floating forests and mountains of Vede are the jewel in the crown of the Marcelline, a noble line who trace their lineage to Prince Hargennes. Long has the Marcelline Tract been neutral in State affairs, but the Marcelline are watched like hawks, lest they declare their rightful bid for the thrones of the rest of the Known World as they did for the Gryphon States.

The independence and might of Vede has historically been propped upon vast riches accrued during the First Crusades. The Island of Vede boasts one city, the palatial Marcelline City State of Vede. Its gleaming white air harbor docks the Cerulean Hawks, whom while not the largest, are certainly the most elite naval fleet in the realms of Man. The islands surrounding Vede are awarded to the court's nobility and are often called the "Crown Cluster".

Pallonweir

The stalwart Kingdom of Pallonweir stands today as a testament to both the resilience and stubbornness of its people, the vastness of its standing soldiery, and, as fate would have it, the fact that it has served for centuries as a large buffer zone; first between the imposing and militant Kolmorian Empire, and later the aggressive Domains of the Alfryche - and The Graff States (Marcelline and Vedan). Its many large islands are largely wilderness. It encroaches on the Dark Zone in altitude, and though nominally temperate has ecologies of Taigas, crystalline lakes, tundra, and imposing and wintry mountains. Though it is expansive, Pallonweir is resource poor, has a brief growing season, and is in political decline. Though this would destroy most kingdoms, Pallonweir and its various annexes and marches possess the civilized world's lion's share of cedar, spruce, and pine forests - essential to the airship industry. Pallonweir is the "Evergreen Kingdom" and it's flag is a cedar vert on a field azure. Pallonweir has an uneasy truce with the Vedan Gryphon States and has for centuries.

The Thousand Kings

This bewilderingly numerous conglomeration of isles has been locked in a chess game of conquest, succession, and feudal backstabbing for centuries. Its nearly un-mappable, volatile nature leaves it at a cautious arms length from the Gryphon States. The hundreds of ever-shifting marches, tributes, princedoms, duchies, etc are home to the greatest throngs of lawful citizens in the known world. The region also boasts its fair share of scoundrels and mercenaries looking to lay low amidst the chaos or make a healthy profit assisting in a political or military coup.

The Krauss Admirality

Nestled between the Thousand Kings and the Storm Zone, the Krauss Admirality was a small fiefdom of little import until the end of the Second Devaic War. Originally a nameless territory in the coffers of the Marcelline, it was secretly given to Alabaster Krauss by Dominique Marcelline. In what was most likely a ploy to legitimize him for marriage to Isha Hargennes, then the Blood Princess Chatelaine of Vede, Alabaster received a title and lands as well as a staging ground for fleet operations into the Storm Zone. The gift and subsequent crowning may have marked the territory as more than mere political posturing, however. Here, cloaked in mystery, is the storm-wracked island of Praesal's Tower of Doors. The Admirality is the center of the newest Graff King's secret explorations into the arcane bindings of the very fabric of the universe.

The Onrican Holds

The Onrican Holds began as a collection of tribal lands inhabited by the Onric, a semi-agrarian hunter-gatherer peoples. It was unified by the great "One King" Andu Lo Olun, a mighty tribal warlord turned talented politician. Guided by his vision of a unified Thousand Kings, the years preceding the Second Devaic War saw the "Holds" become a potent military force as neighboring feudal isles were conquered or brought over to the cause, positioning it as a valuable playing piece in Alabaster Krauss' long game of global maneuvers. The Hold's status as a sovereign nation was acknowledged by both Pallonweir and Vede shortly before the invasion of Dourlingnar, and it was employed as a Bulwark against anticipated Alfen aggression. Today it is the third largest Mannish nation, comprising a large portion of islands formerly belonging to the disenfranchised Thousand Kings. The Onrican Holds, and its vast fleet and soldiery, are treated with a delicate touch on the political stage. Once the Thousand Kings is conquered, what is next for this aggressively colonial upstart nation? The Onrican Holds has recently burst back into the global eye, as it became the only thing standing between the Scourge of Khanakhet and the rest of the Known World. The developing front against these implacable outsiders is watched with baited breath, and will likely see the Holds grow in power and importance once again.

Colourn

The future of Colourn is likely the future of the world. In antiquity a sprawling empire, one of the first and mightiest in Mannish history, the Kindom of Colourn lay practically in ruins when it was conquered by the expanding Gryphon States nearly four centuries ago. Falling under uneasy rule of the Gryphon States, for hundreds of years it was the home of a strong tradition of Colournish nationalism. Native Colournish speaking people maintained that despite all appearances of its demise and annexation, the Kindom of Colourn would rise and reign again. Then, at the end of the Second Devaic War, the King of Colourn returned.

Bearing the legendary Inheritance known as the Ring of the Colournish Kings, Cornelius MunHandral restored the glory of the lost Kingdom of Colourn nearly overnight. Taking to the skies with the once secret wyvern armies of the Black Riders of Chn, the new king led the charge at Hetushmanennanai and pushed back the navies of the Alfryche, instantly cementing Colourn as a political power on the world stage.

The seat of Colournish power is Chelai; the richest, largest, and most populous city in the world.

Chnylvyar “Shunnelwor”

Kolmor

The Ulbarhai

Dourlingnar

ISLANDS OF THE BELT
Human Isle-States
The Griffon Islands
Griffonrynge Isle/City
The Rookery
The Thaumaturgist’s Collyge
Courtesans and the Night Empresses
The Skygaard
Pallonwier
Vede Cluster and The Thousand Kings
Chnylvyar “Shunnelwor”
The Black Riders of Chn

Domains of the Elder Races
Domains of the Alfryche
Occupied Dourlingnar & The Halfling Nations
Free and Occupied Kolmor and the “Rogue Orc States”
Ken-ku Empire of Xiun
The Empress
Falcon-fire and the Impending War

ISLANDS OF THE STORM ZONE

Formian Megahive
The Floating Ocean
Bugbear Islands
Lost Island/The Eye
Dragonspires
The Pirate City of Glearbreake & The Glearbrake “Islands”

ISLANDS OF THE DARK ZONE

The Dwarven Isles and The Glormist Ecclesiarchy

Monastery of Glorm
The Hanging Ice Castle
Cathedral and Theocratic Districts of Glormund
Ice Barrens and the Glacial Isles

ISLANDS OF THE FIRE ZONE

Lizardman
Formian hives
Human barbarian settlements

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