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The World of Danu; Continental Descriptions, Definitions of Continents, and Historically Large Nations
Topic Started: Oct 20 2013, 02:48 PM (370 Views)
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The third planet in the Aodh system, Danu is a planet of greens, blues, and abundant life. A planet which happens to bear thirteen total continental plates- and thousands of islands, continents, and sub-continental islands, it is a planet filled with species and possibilities. The planet itself is named for the ancient mother goddess of the most dominant ethno-cultural group upon the planet, and indeed the commonplace name for the planet's solar system gains it's name from the same group.

While there is not a single continent upon the planet without at least some level of seasonal human habitation, there are immense numbers of areas where mysteries still lie- and that discounts the fact that the planet has numerous non-human sentient species and branch homo sapiens sentient species.

The continents themselves have varied histories, species, and in some cases species which would not otherwise be thought of as possible to exist there, given the sub-species that sometimes exist far from their closest relatives. In the following Posts, players will be able to find out about the various continents upon the map, and those at the north and south pole of the planet.

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AnLyra

An archipelago continent spanning from near the most northerly reaches of the planet down to nearly the equator, these verdant lands are covered with castles, ruins, and ancient memories.

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AnLyra's mere name references the fact that it is not a continent in the traditional sense. The AnLyric Archipelagos are all apart of the same continental plate, yes- and share cultures and climates, but these many islands bare the names themselves of being the 'sealands'. The root word 'Lyr' within their civilizations and the name of the continent itself referencing the chief god of the peoples of the continent, Manaan Mac Lyr, the man who was born from the sea itself.

Old, long-inhabited, and dominated largely by the homo sapiens species and a few therianthrope offshoots of it, AnLyra is one of the few continents upon the planet which were once united by a singular empire for hundreds of years- and despite this has a strong rivalry amongst the sibling nation-states which exist upon it.

Relics of days long past, such as castles, ruins, and medieval legends all remain quite visibly within the landscape and the culture of these many islands, which range from near frigid arctic conditions in the far north of the continent to warm and vaguely tropical conditions in the most southerly of the isles.

The islands themselves range from heavily populated metropolitan areas, to verdant farmlands and forests, to isolated fishing villages which rarely get visitors from outside the region.

AnLyric Nation-States (NPCs)

Principality of Amberly – If the five modern nations of AnLyra were siblings, Amberly would be the one which the others often berated and called adopted. Like the rest of the modern AnLyric nations, Amberly speaks English (though in Danu it's called Amberic) - which unlike the others, originated largely from this trader's island. Initially a pidgin of languages between the Boric, AnLyric, and Artoisian languages which held strong in ships and amongst the natives of Amberly, this principalities very ethnic make up was changed by waves of immigrants, refugees, and would be conquering peoples upon it throughout its earliest years in the darkest times of the middle ages, after the fall of old AnLyr and the Victus Empire.

The Ambermen are a hardy lot though- and survived, independent, throughout.

Kingdom of Bantyr – And if they were siblings, while Amberly was the one they teased about being adopted, Bantyr would be the one they kind of murmured the words 'weird' about, and tried to watch from afar. Bantyr has always been a land of odd people, odd decisions, odd customs, and strong feelings. When the rest of the world was awash with Christianity, it was still painting the walls with blood and talking to its imaginary friends the sidhe, the unicorns, and kelpies.
Despite being the oddest of the siblings, it's also been viewed as more personable amongst the Boricmen and the whole of ArdBoras' nation-states. Likened by many of them as half the sibling of AnLyr and half their own sibling, Bantyr has always been known for fierce warriors, and is even now one known for such.

It should be noted that Bantyr is only domestically semi-independent as a nation-state, it is apart of the High Kingdom of Lyra Major- a non-sovereign & component but independent kingdom.

High Kingdom of Lyra Major – And if Bantyr was the loony sibling, Amberly the one they called adopted then it would be best to say that Lyra was the bossy older sibling. The former capital of the AnLyr Empire lay upon Lyra Major and the petty kingdoms benefited from having buffers between their lands and the peoples of Artoisa and Ardboras. By the year 1066, the MacAodha dynasty had united the other petty kingdoms of Lyra Major (except Bantyr) under its Kingdom of Warre, thus declaring itself a High Kingdom and through luck and sheer tenacity surviving invasions without, plague, and intrigue within. For nearly 800 years, from the year 1130 to 1900- the entirety of the AnLyra continent was ruled by the dynasty which has ruled Lyra Major since the beginning though civil wars and revolts have occurred many times before.

It should also be noted that the vast majority of the world of Danu bears marks to this dominance, because with the might of its entire continent behind it, the peoples of Lyra Major build a mighty and long lasting colonial empire.

The Confederation of Prydein – Continuing the AnLyric sibling paradigm, Prydein is the middle child who listened patiently to its older siblings, watched its younger siblings with caution, and remembers the teachings of its parents the most. Aside from Amberic and Lyric, the Prydeinites- especially those in the most rural villages, speak a language which they call Avaloc (a direct cognate to the Welsh of Earth).

The entirety of Prydein is ruled largely by local councils, with a highly decentralized government system and despite this a large welfare state exists throughout Prydein, though this establishment is something not at all rare in all of the modern nations of AnLyra.

The Commonality of Lyra Minor – The most stalwartly independent and militant about this matter of the nation-states of AnLyra. The commonality's original name was 'Westhaven' and it was a client state of Amberly, but in exchange for Amberly's independence, it was given up and it effectively became a local colony of Lyra Major. The Commonality was the first of the Lyric nation-states to gain independence from Lyra Major, but its path to independence was blood-strewn. Nominally a communist nation, Lyra Minor is actually ruled by a cabal of the wealthy and in a horrible twist given their want for independence, a pair of Ambermen originated vampires.
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Andaluz

A balmy continent of peninsulas and passions, islands and exotic culture clash, the land masses of Andaluz are spiced by their people, though it's not sure which makes the place so fiery to ones soul. Andaluz was once the home of the Victus Empire, the greatest Empire of the Ancient World.

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“Andaluz, oh Andaluz, my Andaluzia.~” - Popular Pan-Andaluziano sport chant.

Snowcaps are rare in the lands of the Andaluziano. These verdant equatorial lands, peninsulas and islands filled with a vast variety of terrain and dominated largely by jagged coasts, long verdant plains, and heat- both the equatorial balminess of the land and the passions of its peoples.

The Andaluziano are conquerors and guerrillas, and it was their land which faced the greatest incursions of non-western Danaan culture into their own. This may have caused the massive passion that is so stereotypically aligned with them- and it certainly infused their castles, their ruins, their place names, even their names- with the spice which the rest of the Danaan cultures so often associate them with.

It is a place for vacation, for enrichment, and for sport. The many nation-states and their component regions themselves are very passionate about their sport, about as passionate as those from Tibur are about their food- though the Tiburanos are counted amongst the pan-Andaluzian peoples, too.

It should be noted that the majority of Western Danaan Werelions and the only surviving community of werecattle of any sort (were-anarochs to be exact) hail from the Andaluzian nation-states.

Andaluzian Nation-States (NPCs)

There are dozens of nation-states within Andaluz at this point in time, some sovereign, some semi-sovereign, some only sovereign in name. But a few of the most notable include:

The Republic of Varga - While it started off as a small city, Varga is a powerful, passionate, and economically precise nation-state which has only suffered small periods of any real control over it by other Andaluzian nations. It is one of the longest standing republics in the world, and a traditional rival of Clacise. It should be noted that despite it's small size, the Varganos are the stereotyped as the most passionate of the lands in Andaluz, and they are certainly one of the most economically cautious and easy to send into a machine gun rant. Varga has one of the most temperate climates in the region.

The United Kingdom of Tizona and Colanda - An United Kingdom only in name, Tizona and Colanda, or as it is more commonly known by most Danaan peoples, Tizona- is a country which was once in a personal and total union with its sibling state, Colanda. Some centuries ago, the entirety of Colanda seceded from the united Kingdom in dispute over the choice of heir (at the end of one dynasty and replaced by another) and it became a noble confederation, and later parlimentary democracy which glares heatedly at Tizona often. Tizona shares the Andaluzian peninsula with Colanda and several smaller nations. Notably, old Tibur and large parts the northern Tiburan Peninsula states are ruled by Tizona, yet that is not apart of the United Kingdom in name or otherwise.

The Crown of Colanda - The crown of Colanda is a crown only in that. A federalized parliamentary republic where there are three legislative houses and the most of the power lays there. The crown of Colanda is tremendously protective of itself against Tizona, and it is this nation that people mean when they say 'Colanda'. Colanda is more verdant and temperate, as well as northern, than its more powerful sibling- and they both exist on the Andaluzian peninsula along with several smaller nations.

The Most Serene Republican Confederacy of Clacise - The true power in the Tiburan peninsula, the Clacise is a merchant power and has been since its earliest days. They have more in common with the rest of the tiburan peninsula states than the Tizonanos do, for sure- and for this reason they are rivals with them and the Varganos in many things. Clacise has the most successful history of colonization in Kayathna and Yanuto of any Andaluziano states. Clacise is red-topped villages and cities, verdant valleys, forests, plains and vinyards, farmland, and much rich coast.
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Artoisa

Artoisa is a continent of varied terrains, long beautiful coastlines, deep forests, high snow-capped mountains, and densely packed urban areas surrounded by rich farmlands. It was the furthest northern extent of the old Victus Empire and has long been a land of conflict. The ancient home of the germanic and frankish tribes of Danu, and their Therianthrope cousins, it was a land where feudalism reigned at the greatest heights. While the peoples of AnLyr were still performing cattle raids, castles and sieges were the rule of thumb for the Artoisan peoples. Home of numerous nation-states, city-states, and cultures which evolved from the ancient germanic and frankish identities, it has long been identified with the bears which inhabit its wilds- and that was the root of its name.

Despite this constant conflict and the seething national tempers it ignited, Artoisa became one of the early centers of learning on Danu, and romance, romanticism, and other cultural medicines from the constant warfare all found themselves blossoming strongly. Even now, Artoisan style cuisine is favored in throughout many western countries, songs and stories from it are told, and other cultural things found themselves in the waves of colonist to the other continents from old Artoisa.

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Artoisan Nation-States (NPCs)

(WIP, but obviously there's gotta be a place where 'old Bordelon' is at. I've also got a few Germanic-esque NPCs planned.)
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Azawakhta

A vast, varied continent of sweeping deserts, acrid badlands, sweltering jungle, humid mangrove swamps, dangerous savannah and ancient crumbling cities, Azawakhta is to many in Danu the "Dark Continent." Although home to some of the oldest civilisations on the planet, this troubled land is a cauldron- and a crucible- of peoples, ideas, religions and causes, with many empires rising and falling. It is difficult to generalise about this diverse continent, but it offers true diversity in all ways, aswell as true conflict and opportunity.

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“To be a child of Azawakhta is to walk beneath a white sun on brown soil, to run black hands through rainbow-droplet streams and to feel Danu's very breath in every fibre.~” -Old Ndoto-Maji saying

A thin, verdant strip known as the "Green Belt" runs across the top northwestern tip of this vast land. The Belt is divided by several huge rivers, the largest of which is the Maisha, and on whose banks the first cities rose. The Green Belt is home to predominantly brown-skinned people, whose culture tends to be a fusion of Andaluziano- their nearest neighbours and frequent rivals and influences- and a mishmash of older desert cultures.

These Belt-dwellers are a by and large a seperate people from other Azawakhti, having longer histories of blood-letting, conquest, empire-building and destruction, and also having the most interaction and influence with and from the rest of Danu. They in turn have been amongst the first to seek to build vast empires in the rest of their home continent, spreading faith and fury to all corners of this vast land.

Below the Belt is the vast desert known only as the Ocean of Fire. Almost as large as Andaluz and AnLyra combined, the Fire-Ocean is a harsh, arid land, home to wanderers, nomads, and many ruins. It has also frequently become a place for foreign entrepreneurs, seeking its natural resources buried beneath the sands.

The Ocean of Fire eventually gives way to the Savannah and Jungles of the Ndoto-Maji and the Watanga, the two largest ethnic groups of Southern Azawakhta. They are often looked down upon as the least civilised and most different people on Danu, but they have accomplished many great wonders of their own, regardless of what others have thought. Resources are often scarce, and conflict is frequent, but both people have preserved a rich and vibrant culture both religious and secular, quite unlike anything found anywhere else. Dividing Southern Azawakhta from north to south, running from the Ocean of Fire to the actual southern ocean, is the Great Rift, an enormous network of mountains, volcanoes and canyons is the source of much mineral wealth, and also the frequent rainstorms that nourish the jungles of the Green Heart of the continent.

A second, smaller Green Belt exists on the southern coast, known as the Little Belt. This verdant land has untill recently largely been overlooked and forgotten by the rest of Danu, but many pioneers have sought to stake claims and exploit its as yet untapped resources and incredible natural beauty.


Azawakhta is also home to the most diverse range of therianthropes, with clans of wereleopards and werelions roaming freely, and even rumours of weregorilla in the deep jungles.


Azawakhta Nation-States (NPCs)

There are dozens of nation-states within Azawakhta, many rising and falling in the span of a few years. A few of the most notable/long-lasting/most influential include:

The People's Democratic Socialist Republic of Umbazi - A powerful yet legendarily eccentric and authoritarian country, the PDSR, or Umbazi, extends like a sliver along the River Sanga, from the western coast of Azawakhta to the Green Heart in the centre of the Great Rift and the continent. This country borders several others, and has largely evolved from its dominance of the River Sanga and the collapse of the great network of slaver city-states that used to dominate this area. Spanning many tribal areas, linguistic groups and religions, the PDSR is held together by a mutual hatred for everyone outside of Umbazi, and by the authoritarian iron-grip of its patriarchial leader, Supreme President Amasi Amaka, a man who openly wears a werelion skin and owns almost as many golden assault rifles as he does concubines. Despite its incredible corruption and brutality, the PDSR survives by dint of the fact that, without it, things would be even worse.

The Caliphate of Istar - A once mighty empire that dominated most of the Green Belt, Istar has now shrunk to a small area around the great city of the same name. It maintains enormous religious influence over the rest of the continent however, and millions of pilgrims come every year to its shrines and temples and holy relics. A city almost as famous for its intrigue as its bloody holy wars, Istar's army and navy may have greatly shrunk, but rumours abound that its missionaries and clergy overlap with its legendarily vast spy networks, which gather rumours and secrets from around the world for the ear of the Caliph himself.

The Warlords Alliance of Kharst - A patchwork alliance of warlords spanning much of the Ocean of Fire, Kharst is less a nation and more a coalition of tribal chieftans and opportunist warlords who are only very loosely and grudgingly committed to defending one another. Kharst would be a nobody if not for their strict control of the oil and spice trades that the rest of the world craves so much. Kharsti Warlords are treated like Princes and Kings wherever they go, for they are all exceptionally wealthy, even if their people starve.

The Irmgard Syndicate- A corporate-sponsored nation that seeks to exploit the Little Belt and has become increasingly obsessed with exerting sovereignty over the many pioneer-settlements and local tribes, Irmgard has attracted alot of criticism in recent years for its extensive use of mercenaries and private millitary contractors to enforce its accuqistion of South Azawakhta's gold and diamond mines. Controlled by powerful AnLyran and Artoisan magnates, Irmgard is a great place if you've a mind to make a fortune fast and dont care who suffers.

The Former Republic of Nuria
A model republic that once dominated the eastern coast of Azawakhta, Nuria collapsed once funding from various Kandaran and Yanuto business moguls dried up in the wake of a massive recession. In its hey-day a popular tourist destination, now Nuria's many crumbling hotels, empty swimming pools, and once pristine beaches are littered with the dead and spent shell-casings. Although several warlords and provisional government bodies have risen, none have successfully filled the vacuum, and the law in Nuria is very much the law of the strong, with therianthropes ruling by machete and assault rifle in private fiefdoms everywhere.

The main currency in Nuria is wolfsbane and opiates, with a crude barter system existing. Occasionally concerned NGOs and corporations attempt to provide aid or restore some of Nuria's faded glory, but only the stubborn or insane go there now, where even the children carry arms, and feral therianthrope pups are raised on opium and raw human meat to become wild enforcers for their masters.
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Ardboras

A continent of taiga and tundra, of tall mountains and deep valleys; Ardboras is the continent which shares the title of the northern-most continent on the planet of Danu, like many of the continents of Danu it has a varied geography and topography- but frequently sets and beats the world records for cold temperatures.

Ardboras is in the modern day known for its friendly people, highest rankings in happiness, tendency towards high investment into the people of their nations and their well-being (to the point the typical for a 'perfect' welfare-state is typically called an 'Ardboran Paradise'.) The Ardborans are often viewed as quirky as well, and while being cousins to both the Artoisan peoples and the AnLyran nations, their cultures still stick out as their own very 'alien' at times, and all too familiar at others.


Ardboran Nation-States (NPCs)
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Kandara

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Kandara is a fractured land, the "Gateway to the East" and historically a crossroads for countless Empires. In the south, where the great Middle Ocean laps the pristine shores, a dozen warring city-states and small nations cluster together beneath halycon skies. Southern Kandara is the cradle of modern "western" civilisation, birthing rich culture that influenced the rise of Victus and forms the "classical" traditions of democracy, philosophy, astronomy, mathematics, art and architecture.

Further north, in the great central plains of Kandara, high rolling hills meet dense coniferous forest, a patchwork of once great kingdoms that formed the foundations of radical, revolutionary new republics. Many of these have also fallen, and the future of Central Kandara remains uncertain, with political forces new and old warring for control of these old plains and ancient waterways.

Northern Kandara is a cold land, harsh fjords and frigid taiga that spills into the vastness of western Yanuto. Often considered a land a century behind the rest of Danu, Northern Kandara was once united by a sprawling Tsardom, an Empire legendary for its ruthless and brutality. The Tsardom felll into long decline not long after the Amberlese Wars, and finally collapsed in the Storm years that led to the rise of Amurgos. Noaptora, the capital of the Amurgos Compact, is located in Northern Kandara, though the Compact spanned the entirety of Kandara.

Noaptora itself is an uninhabited ruin, preserved as a memorial to those dark days, though various political factions squabble still to claim its legacy. Today, Northern Kandara is as chaos and war-wracked as the rest of Kandara, its history of strict hierarchy, religion, and rigid millitary order an increasingly distant memory.


Historic Nations:

The Achean, Artemisian and Mileaki Leagues– The Leagues of City-States that made up the Classical world, the Three Leagues gave birth to a whole raft of concepts, ideas, styles and technologies that influenced Danu for millenia. A land of olive-trees, luxurious baths, balmy summers and breezy winters, the Leagues have long since faded into history, but they are remembered fondly by many nations in Southern Kandara as a Golden Age worth emulating.

Tsardom of Chernaya– A great empire built by a single dynasty of warlords, Chernaya spanned almost all of Northern Kandara at its peak, founded on a rigid trifecta of Faith, Feudalism and Fatherland, an empire of fanatical devotion to its Patriarchs, obsessive dedication its social hierarchy and patriotic devotion to the Tsar and nation.

Despite being remembered fondly by many for its success in maintaining public order, the empire was a stagnant, bloated body that slowly collapsed, unable to reform or meet the changing demands of the modern era. Some nations in the North have since tried to recapture some of its former glory, but with the death of the Chernovs none have the same legitimacy, or the same reach and influence.


The Amurgos Compact:

The most famous of nation-states to ever arise in Kandara, The Amurgos Compact formed in 1921 from several nations in Central Kandara and the southern remnants of the Tsardom of Chernaya. To the world at large, the Compact was the vision and achievement of the Great Patriarch Sebastian Vadim, a young and ambitious religious and secular leader who helped bring together the nations of the Centre on a radical reinterpretation of the ancient tradition of the Tsardom- Faith, Order and Race, replacing the traditions of Feudalism and Fatherland with more universal concepts of meritocratic social stratification and ethnic pan-nationalism.

In reality the realisation of a vast Vampiric Conspiracy, the Amurgos Compact succeeded over the course of the next few years in bringing the backwards Kandaran nations screaming into the 20th century, mobilising millions willingly and unwillingly in vast industrialisation and public works programmes. By 1930 only Southern Kandara was not brought into the Compact, whilst the West and East watched on with increasingly concerned and wary distrust.

In 1931, the Compact signed a historic treaty with two major powers in AnLyr, Angard and Rygard, which was again the result of wide-spread vampiric infiltration and manipulation. In 1932, a border incident with a western nation in Yanuto began the War in the East, and the world watched with keen horror as Amurgos unleashed its vastly superior modernised forces. It was not many years later that the blow finally came in the west, with probing assaults into Andaluz triggering a pan-global conflict.

15 years later, with all continents but Vesperia and some corners of Kayathna scarred by the Great Amurgos War, the capital city of the Compact, Noaptora, burned in a great conflagration, killing millions, destroying the vampiric conspiracy and taking most of the Allied army with it.

Since that day, for many decades, Kandara was divided between the powers of the West and the powers of the East, though in recent years independent nation-states have emerged, though the dream of Pan-Kandaran Unity remains more elusive than ever.

Modern NPC Nation-states:

The Federal Republic of Viayzma
Formerly divided into occupation zones maintained by different western armies, Viayzma was granted its full independence again only two decades ago, after almost fifty years of suspicion, concern, rebuilding, and deep tensions between the nations of Artoisa/An Lyra and the recovering Eastern Bloc of the rest of Kandara.

Viayzma is in the very centre of Kandara, with the ruins of Noaptora on its northernmost border, a loose exclusion zone set up to stop too many looters and war vultures moving in. Guided tours are sometimes conducted, but untill recently few had the taste for visiting the broken monument to the horrors of the Amurgos War.

Viayzma is a created nation-state, and includes several ethnic groups that span its borders and stretch into neighbouring countries. Ever since its formation in 1949, Viayzma has struggled to assert its own distinctive identity, always threatening to disintegrate and be torn apart by secretarian and secessionist forces from within. One thing that has managed to keep the country together asie from the threat of force however, is its powerful love of sport.

Many World Cups have gone to Viayzma's supremely effective sports teams and atheletes, with many accusing them of doping and steroid abuse. In reality, Viayzma's sports scene is a gathering place for its Theriantropes, who use their training regimes and sports clubs as a way of socialising amongst their fellow kindred without fear of persecution.

In other parts of Viayzma, however, many villages still hang wolfsbane on their doors, or wear silver-crosses around their neck, to ward off demons both therian and vampiric.

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