Nations of the Silath Tyr Region

Several nations are vying for primacy among the coasts of the Northern Sea and islands of the Silath Tyr region. Each hopes to gain sole-control over the artifacts and relics of the shattered empyrean vault. This page details the major players in this race.

The Alden Empire

At first glance, the Alden Empire seems a utopia of wealth, power, and ambition. Their cities and villages are constructed with straight lines, and unified architectures, employing sewage systems, and lightstone-powered streetlights. Their government is open to all, their laws published and clearly written in plain language, and their people are encouraged to innovate. Even the basest peasant can rise to greatness in the Alden Empire, given enough ambition and a good idea.

However, after that first glance, things start turning ugly quite quickly. Slavery is prevalent in the Alden Empire, and many crimes carry penalties of indenture. Furthermore, the relentless encouragement of ambition and self-advancement has created a culture of rapacious imperialists, who view the world through a lens of profitability and acquisition.

The Ottovar Empire

The Ottovar Empire was founded by the Ottovar clan of dwarves, and continues to be principally governed by the Ottovar family. However, they embrace all races, and encourage immigrants to join them, as long as they are willing to work and contribute to the success of the Empire. The Ottovar Empire is based in the Brun'holfen Mountains, which bisect a thousand-mile stretch of land, beginning in the east, where they merge with the Cea Dorsal mountain range, and stretching west into the Silath Tyr. A massive network of underground caves link the Ottovar clan with several other dwarven clans. Numerous keeps, towers, and castles have been built in the Silath Tyr, in order to establish a foothold here.

The Ottovar Empire is quite new to travel by sail, and their ships are slow, clunky affairs, though they are quite durable, and highly resistant to sinking. They have yet to establish much of a presence in the islands of the Northern Sea, and are eager to do so.

The empire is renown for its trade and bargaining, and merchants are granted the highest respect in their society, with caravan guards being a close second.

The Fontaigne Empire

The Fontaigne prize art, music, poetry, dance, and philosophy above most other endeavors, and view the fine arts, as well as social graces, with the highest esteem. They are viewed as foppish and shallow people by most outsiders, who see their refined mannerisms, their disdain for manual labor, and their constant need for parties and gallantry as weakness.

But beneath this admittedly-thick veneer of sophistry is a burning passion for honor, and a deep love of rebuke and revenge. While getting angry in public is often viewed as uncouth, few Fontaigne can resist the call of a duel of honor against a villain who has slighted them. Indeed, the Fontaignes have many kinds of duels, each with differing degrees of etiquette and lethality. All duels, even those to the death, are legal.

Poverty is largely unknown among the Fontainge, as charity is also regarded as a great virtue, and all those wealthy enough to comfortably sustain themselves often feel socially obliged to take one or more struggling families under their wing.

The Fontaigne are fussy about etiquette and dress, and entertain elaborate rituals at meals, social gatherings, dances, and within their politics.

It is thought that the Fontaigne seek the treasures of the empyrean vault to advance their arts, rather than to ascend to dominance in the region, though this cannot be said for certain.

Empire of the Spear

The Empire of the Spear are a tribe of arrakanza (Half-Orcs) who, at least by the standards of other arrakanza, have "gone soft" and taken up a civilized lifestyle. They build permanent towns, villages and cities, and have taken up farming and the domestication of livestock, rather than embracing the freedom of their ancestral nomadism.

Of course, by anyone else's standards, the Empire of the Spear is still a horror-show of savagery. The Empire of the Spear is still fond of gaunts, and other violent traditions of the arrakanza. While they accept other races into their lands, such immigrants are always treated as a lesser class of citizen, with fewer rights and often open disdain. Only the most sadistic and crazy non-arrakanza tend to thrive in this environment, as only they can establish themselves as worthy.

Native Cultures

A number of tribal nations and small pockets of civilization exist in the Silath Tyr region, having lived here before the major empires started to invade. These city-states are vulnerable due to their isolation and lack of unity. While, individually, they are more than capable of defending themselves from aggression, they cannot withstand the onslaught of any of the larger nations' attention for long. Each of the big empires can bring massive navies and expend exorbitant treasure to overwhelm any of these city states, once they decide they want to.

While very different from each other, culturally, these natives have a few things in common. They tend to be racially homogeneous, with little allowance for outsiders to permanently join their cultures. They tend to be experienced sailors, with a long history of exploration and navigating the many hazards of the Silath Tyr region. And each have survived the unceasing attacks by the Tenoch Tecalli, an aggressive clan of amphibian creatures who are also native to the area.

The Predecessors

Very little is known of the Predecessors, save that they once ruled these lands from their flying cities, employed magic beyond imagining, and were ascended beings, gods, who had been exiled from some far away land. It is the shattered remains of one of their flying cities which now invites these many people and cultures to invade this land, in hopes of unlocking its secrets, and harvesting its power.

The Silath Tyr

The Silath Tyr once dwelled throughout these lands, building beautiful cities of lace-like stone.