Fantasy Lore of Visifia

[Yatasal]

• Dragons
• Souls
• Magic
• Recent Major Events
• Maps and Countries
• Eagles
• The Green Castle

• 
  History: Dragons were a magical experiment contracted by the Caligookish government. They were created in order to give man the power of flight and to try to counter the trade power of the Ivaen eagles. The test subjects escaped to a nearby village, where they infected (accidently) everyone with the dragon curse. Those infected couldn't infect others. Dragons spread, and are now a third of Visifians living today.
  
  Persecution: There is a disease that runs through one line of dragons. It causes the dragon to change randomly, and the dragon often loses control when he or she changes, causing the dragon to desire nothing more than destruction and chaos. This disease affects only 50 to 60 of the millions of dragons in Visifia, however, they are the cause of the fear and paranoia surrounding dragons. Not only that, but dragons are stronger, look different, and aren't affected by human magic. There are very few places that will accept dragons.
  
  Dragon cuffs: To capture dragons, dragon cuffs were invented. They appear to be simple leather cuffs, often with a dragon carved into it. One cuff will make a dragon look human without taking away any supernatural abilities (increased strength and vision) except for the ability to turn (become a dragon). Two cuffs will make their strength and vision akin to a human's. A collar will act as the same strength as two cuffs. If the dragon is forced to wear two cuffs and a collar, at best they can follow simple commands and at worst they become comatose. If worn for too long, a collar/cuff combo will kill any dragon.
  Dragon cuffs prevent the dragon's cycle of turning, which means that once the cuffs are removed, the dragon body demands to immediately turn in order to catch up with its cycle. Without the proper spells, this can kill the dragon, and result in a mutilated body of half human half dragon flesh. They also prevent dragons from casting magic.
  
  Dragon Mines: Because of their strength, dragons are used as slave labor in mines. A dragon slave will always wear at least one cuff.
  
  Dragon Thieves: Dragon thieves are people who rescue dragons and bring them to checkpoints. Eventually, the dragons are brought somewhere safe for dragons, but no individual dragon thief knows where or what this means. Only a few do, to protect the secret and keep the dragons there safe.
  
  Dragon Trappers or Traders: Not to be confused with dragon thieves, dragon trappers (sometimes referred to as traders) capture dragons and sell them to mines or other interested parties.
  
  Dragonborn: No, this isn't the dovahkiin (if you get that reference you get bonus points). Dragonborn are individuals who were born of a dragon and a human parent. Most children born of these parents are one or the other, but occasionally dragonborn occur. Dragons and humans have different souls, so dragon magic won't affect humans and human magic won't affect dragons. Because of this, when a dragonborn baby is born their soul is split in half, each side fighting for dominance. To save the baby, another dragonborn or a dragon and human must combine the two souls together. If the baby survives the process, their soul can be affected by both human and dragon magic, but can only cast human magic, and they can't turn.
  
  Turning: To turn, the dragon reaches inside themself and turns. To them, its a grueling process where they have to push themselves through (the first few times. With practice, it becomes easier). To anyone looking, the dragon becomes engulfed with light and becomes a dragon in a matter of a few seconds. An uncuffed dragon will change between a human and dragon either by choice or will be forced to via a spell. The dragon though will want to turn by choice because they'll feel an urge to do so. Like a itch they can't scratch.
  
  A note on firebreathing: Dragons in Visifia DO NOT breathe fire, acid, ice, or any other thing. Treat them like cursed humans.
  
  
  
• 
  Basic: Magic in Visifia is produced through souls. While all living things (occasionally including trees though this is a rare thing) have souls, only humans and dragons have soul rings. Important to remember: Human magic can't affect dragons, and dragon magic can't affect humans. The exception to this are dragonborn.
  
  Soul Rings: Soul rings protect the magic center of the soul. The more soul rings, the less powerful or potent the mage is. The less soul rings, the more vulnerable the mage is to magical attacks. The soul and amount of rings do not affect physical attacks (unless the physical attack includes or comes from a spell. For example, there are blast attacks that throw the opponent across a room. The opponent receives damage to their soul from the blast magic, but hitting the ground will also do damage. There's clothing and armor to guard against these kind of attacks as well, and are commonly used by combat mages). Note: These are not actual rings. They are rings around a soul, which is essentially located where the heart is. When the soul rings are broken, pain is felt in the chest. But no one has been able to see a soul, it's just the pervading theory.
  
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  Basic: Magic is a technology, meaning that it's constantly being improved upon. The way you can buy spells and use them is through injections. Vendors will dip a needle into a potion, and then stab it into your skin. There are concerns of blood diseases from lesser quality spells, and it's a risk most run if they use the vendor's needle. Mages who are constantly getting new spells will have their own supply of needles, and most people will either buy their own (you need a special needle that is easy to insert into skin) or run the risk of using the vendor's needles.
  
  Spells: Potions are made from a variety of ingredients, from plants to bones, to specific kinds of dirt to blood. Basically if you can make it into a potion, it can be used to have magical properties that will create specific spells. For simplicity's sake, we'll use Skyrim's alchemy ingredient list for specific effects if one of you decides to become a spellsmith. If not, the spells will come in potions. Common ones such as fireball, magic missile (magical arrows cast out of palm), or heal (see note) are cheap, while more complicated spells are of course more expensive.
  
  Casting magic: Once injected, the vendor or spellsmith will provide a word that will activate the spell. This is usually a nonsense word created by the spellsmith or vendor. Occasionally, two words will sound alike and so you can run the risk of not casting the spell you want. This can either be hilarious or dangerous. Common ones are shield spell "dileida", fire blast "erif t'sablar", fire tunnel, "erif lennut", and one of my favorites, storm travel, "irtelec levart". There are some similarities (fire is erif) but for the most part it's up to the spellsmith.
  
  Guilds and Vendors: There are plenty of vendors that'll sell a variety of spells. Most major cities have guilds that'll control the trade in the major city and the surrounding cities. These assure quality, but there are specialists that work outside the guilds. These specialists are somewhat famous, and can be commissioned to make various spells.
  
  Special Considerations: Mental magic is highly dangerous because it's a delicate magic. There have been attempts at it over the years, but they usually don't end well. Healing magic has several levels, and is one of the few magics that requires training to use (most magics don't, but like any tool magic needs practice). There are surface healing magics, ones that heal surface wounds, but anything deeper or serious requires serious magical skill. Akin to being a surgeon. Also, powerful spells such as the Border Wall will ripple out and be felt by mages. The Border Wall was felt by everyone, the ones with less soul rings feeling it more potently than those with more soul rings.
  
  Emotional Magic: This can't be cast, and it can't do much damage. But occasionally when a caster feels great emotion, whether anger or sadness or happiness, it influences their magic. Grief tends to send shockwaves, while anger fuels magic to be more powerful. Happiness is infectious, and can make others happy or feel happiness. So can love, which is why weddings or births are exciting and felt by many surrounding people. But these are rare, and the caster has to feel especially sharp emotion and can't willingly access these powers.
  
  
• 
  The Gorge Wars: No one really knows why they're referred to as the "gorge wars" as there were no gorges and it was a single war, but that is the name. This requires a lot of history (as most wars do) but the summary is that the dragon people were given a stretch of land to live in and call their own nation. By this point they have a royal family, a government, and while at odds with the countries around them, mostly lived in peace. And then Marzdul happened. Marzdul is the country directly south of Synorngia, the dragon country. They declared war on the dragons (it's unclear why but most historians attribute it to the princess of Marzdul, Illyanna, marrying the High prince of Synorngia, Vrindet), and a bloody conflict ensued. The war lasted for a few years before coming to a sudden halt when a gigantic wall shot up around Marzdul's entire border.
  After the Border Wall, the dragon royal family was captured or killed, and the few who were captured were brought to trial in Girranon, a neutral country. But the night they arrived in Girranon they somehow escaped, and their current whereabouts are unknown.
  
  The Border Wall: It heralded the end of the Gorge Wars, and covers the entire border of Marzdul. Marzdul isn't a small country either, and the border wall is too high to fly over and extends into the ground, so tunneling isn't an option. No one knows who could've cast such a thing, but most assume that the caster is dead, due to the sheer massive power the spell would've required. But as soon as the caster died the spells they cast would stop. Basically, no one knows how the Border Wall came to be, but some believe it must have been Ena, the god of magic. No human caster could cast such a thing and live... right?
  
  Averian's Rebellion: Caligook took the dragons' side during the Gorge Wars, due to the sympathies of the king and queen towards the dragons' plight. This was not well received by the people, and when the dragons lost the Gorge Wars, the people rose up, slaughtered the royal family, and placed a new queen on the throne, the leader of the rebellion. Queen Averian then made killing dragons legal and nonpunishable in any Caligookish court, and most dragons avoid Caligook at all costs due to this.
  
  Marzdul's Army: After the Border Wall went up, Marzdul's army were left stranded in Visifia. Unable to go home, many formed fighting groups that attacked dragons or Caligookish people or really anyone caught unawares on the road. In essence they became bandits. This isn't all of them, but a great majority of them. Because of this, a stereotype follows any Marzdulian that they are nothing more then warmongers or common thieves. While there aren't any specific laws against Marzdulians, they are persecuted wherever they go.
  
  
• 
  For your character, you'll need to choose a country and city of origin. Most cities have no real setting (meaning I can tell you about the country but I put dots on a map) so feel free to create one of your own. Tell us what it was like to grow up there, the people, the atmosphere, etc.
  
  This is the map that is most commonly used. It is mostly accurate, too. Marzdul is unmarked because no one has been able to cross into Marzdul for more than twenty years. This specifically was given to a character who requested no dragon mines be marked on the map, hence the note in the corner.
  
  Girranon: Desert country for the most part. There are some parts of the Outlying territories that have sparse forests, but it's a huge desert. There are typical desert creatures, the largest being Risers, which are rhinos basically. They tend to charge at anything, so be careful around them. Three cities are marked as the capitol city of Girranon, because all three have separate governments in them. Mirde governs the river cities, Belargi controls the Outlying Territories, and Gethendil controls the Narolin Mountains and everything north of them. Generally, people refer to Gethendil being in charge of all of them. This is due largely to Gethendil's current king, Randolf the Mighty.
  
  Ivaeus: While a small country, Ivaens have tamed giant eagles that can carry shipments and cargo very quickly. (See tab on Eagles) They are the wealthiest country in Visifia due to this, but tend to stay out of the politics of the realm. Most people think that Ivaens considered themselves to be above the rest of the people, and they would be right. Ivaeus is mostly mountainous and rainy, and the people who do live in the valleys are the wealthiest in Ivaeus. Darwaeton, for example, is in the valley. Ivaeus' queen died recently, her 17 year old son, Jericho, taking the throne.
  
  Caligook: The two countries of Girranon and Caligook have a similar relationship to a old bickering couple. They constantly get on each other's nerves, people from the two countries don't like each other on principle and foreign relations are always tense. But they've always avoided war. Even when Caligook took the dragons' side in the Gorge Wars, Girranon remained neutral. Caligook is a desert along its northern border but the majority of it is plains and praries. Its southeast border is covered by massive, ancient forests, and these continue into Jimus.
  
  Jimus: There's no real government in Jimus, just a few trading towns and tribes that live in the ancient woods. The forests dominate most of Jimus, although there are some open areas, especially around the southern parts of Jimus and near Lake of Xaydem.
  
  Orikaal: This used to be Synorngia, but was renamed after the humans living in Synorngia re-restablished their government and forced the dragons out. There is still a heavy population of dragons in Orikaal, but they are living in the dragons mines or in towns that are dirt-poor and constantly overrun by bandits. There are some good dragon towns, but they are few and far between. Ironbeak, for example, is the closest the dragons get to a capitol city. However, it's constantly under threat from dragon traders and those who want all dragons to be exterminated. Orikaal is plains that become beaches along the coastlines. It's flat, and grey, and a dull landscape. There are also large swamps, especially towards the middle of the country. Hence the reason why there are few cities in the center of Orikaal.
  
  Marzdul: Twenty years ago Marzdul was another wealthy nation, masters of spellsmithing, and perceived as the hub of intellectual and magical prowess. Rakacity--Marzdul's capitol city--was heralded as the "most intelligent city in Visifia". But when the Border Wall went up, access to the entire country was denied. No one knows what happened to the Marzdulian people.
  
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• 
  The Breyador Eagles are bred and raised in Ivaeus, who guards their eggs and birds wherever they go. They are very rarely owned by a non-Ivaen. They are huge, about the size of the eagles in the second Hobbit movie. They can carry almost a ton of supplies, and fly fast, making them the best way to ship anything around Visifia. They're commonly rented by various guilds, and if Ivaeus went to war, there are army eagles as well. These eagles are trained to carry large rocks and drop them onto the opposing army.
  
• 
  Nearly fifty years ago, when dragon thieves first started forming a singular group, the veteran thieves decided that they needed a place where the dragon thieves and dragons could meet in secret--where they could thrive and live for a short while before they had to move on. A little respite for the most dangerous work in Visifia.
  
  It sits in a secluded valley in Ivaeus, guarded by woods that most deem too dangerous to venture within. It's covered with an illusion ward, completely unique to the Green Castle, which appears like more trees by eagles flying overhead.
  
  It has been in control by various caretakers, usually dragon thieves too old to really be of service out in the field. Currently, Valerie and Greo Vareen are the caretakers of the Green Castle. They are old, and while Valerie is human, Greo is a dragon, and is one of the largest dragons they know of.
  
  When in is his dragon form, Greo is a deep green. His eyes have clouded over, and while he can still somewhat see in his dragon form, he's completely blind while in his human form. He's somewhat odd, and prefers to make little inventions and spells, despite being blind.
  
  Valerie is the personification of elegance. In another life, she likely was a queen. She is magically weak, and prefers to take care of others through her weak healing magic and her herbs. She also has a splendid garden.
  
  Patti is the cook/servant/best friend/secret weapon/mom in the Green Castle. If you're not completely fed and clean by the time you leave the Green Castle you "ain't leavin'! You hear me! I ain't never let one of my kids go hungry and you filthy boy!" (Patti, to Greo, who was leaving on a supplies mission and is at least forty years older than Patti)
  
  Marco and Rittie are twins, and they usually handle the supplies missions. They have eagles, and they only leave twice a year on their rounds around Ivaeus and northern Orikaal. They are generally like stereotypical old grumpy men who you would think hate each other and generally every other person, but they actually love everyone. To a point. Okay yeah they hate everyone but they hate some people a little less.
  
  
  Spoiler: Green Castle Art

  
  
  

 

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