Make the Nation - Vote 4.5
Added 2019-08-05 06:23:31 +0000 UTC
The votes are in on poll #4 and we have a tie! As with the last tie, I'll be opening up the vote to all my patrons as a decider.
So, we now have a location in Elyden (area ? 6 in the below map, which I am calling SIX), and the last vote was to determine some details regarding the borders. Area SIX, as depicted on the below map is landlocked and is 'trapped' from the coast by the region of Essevera, which is currently contested between Almagest and various independent militant forces and Patrician Houses over rich umbra reserves there. Gang wars are common over the control of wells and pipelines. More on the region can be found below.
the last poll was to determine whether or not we should change the borders so that SIX remains landlocked, or at least has a partial coastal presence and the vote was tied between:
1: add SIX to the west of Essevera, in the Auroren hills, but keep the existing borders as they are, which means SIX will not have a coastal presence.
2: add SIX to the west of Essevera, in the Auroren hills, but change the existing borders as they are, which means SIX will have a coastal presence.
so basically that's what this poll is. Please let me know what you think.
Comments
the sea travel speed is taking an average of 15 knots (about 17.25.17 mph) and assumes that travel is with a steamer ship, which I figured would be the average. Different vessels would make different times, accordingly. I'm still in the process of getting the Encyclopaedia presentable (it's a pretty big feat as its rapidly approaching 600,000 words and is only growing with every map I make. I want to get the whole thing hyperlinke for ease of reference, though If I every mention something in passing that you're not sure of please just go ahead and ask - it might be something that I take for granted but may never have gone into detail with here. Here's some more info on umbra (I might put up a small essay about it too as its pretty important to the world. TL;DR – umbra is magical fuel, shapers are magic users UMBRA: 1. colloquially referred to as ‘Shadow-stuff’. The raw physical form of the ATR. which, through various means, can be refined into UMBRIKSA: itself a common base for a myriad of different manufactured substances. In its natural state it is a sticky coal-like substance, though it is often found buried deep, where pressure has hardened it into a stone-like substance that can be mined or otherwise extracted (see 2. below), becoming more tar-like in texture following prolonged contact with the air. It ranges from black, to brown in colour and is often streaked in yellow or red, from sulphur and nickel impurities. Being the physical representation of the Atr. it can be altered through alchemical and technarcane application or be refined by purposefully-constructed machinery, to a myriad different forms and functions, most common of which is umbriska. It is fundamental to the operation of various technarcane machinery and engines, and is also the base of the many CLONING traditions amongst varying ntns. such as the KORACHANI EMPIRE and PARTHIS, amongst others. It is also used in the creation of VAT-BORN UMBRANS and is invaluable in the grafting of mechanical ORTHOSES and the transplantation of organs and limbs, largely due to its ability to negate hyperacute rejection in transplants. Many technologies that are ubiquitous around the INNER SEA came to rely on it so much so that following the SUNDERING OF THE SHADOW in 4008 RM, the Korachani empire crumbled, its monolithic industries unable to survive without the Atm. to sustain it. 2. also ‘Shadow-Iron’. A different form of umbra, though commonly (if incorrectly) used interchangeably with umbra. A metal-like substance of ATR. roots that can be mined and quarried. Unlike DUSTSTONE, which is weakened by the Atr. effect on its formation, shadow-iron inherits far more sought-after properties – it is light and easy to work, relatively strong and maintains a very sharp edge. The metal is expensive and, when treated is of great industrial and mil. value. UMBRAEUM: a form of refined umbra, commonly used as fuel for engines, such as ambulants or manufactories. UMBRAPHAGE: in Korachan, a legend of degenerates that populate the marshes of Serah, preying on other tainted creatures. UMBRAPHAGIA: apocryphal city of umbraphages (its true name unknown) that exists in imperial legend, though maintained by some scholars to be true or based on truth. The city is said to exist to the S–W of the Umbra Solare and is dominated by strange solidified Atm. growths. The formations warp life and light, twisting the spectrum in iridescent ways. The populace subsists on Atm.-laced mosses and vegetation cultivated outside the city, granting them dark skin and eyes. Over generations their bodies have developed an affinity for the Atm., a far cry from the self-harming rituals that their ancestors once undertook. The city is ruled by basalt-skinned shaper with mystical links to their first ancestors, who are thought to have been heretics exiled from a noble church in the end of the Fourth Age. UMBRAPHAGY: umbra addiction, common in the Korachani empire, particularly amongst the upper-classes, who can afford the often-exorbitant prices of the processed umbra. See Vol II: Drugs and Addictions. UMBRAPHILIA: activity and cult that arose in the Mharokkin town of Tamaran in c. 3824 RM. It has its roots in umbraphagy though is a more modern interpretation, using technarcane engineers to refine and improve the umbra even as it’s being consumed. In its most commonly accepted form, a group of umbraphiliacs sit in a circle of up to a dozen individuals (though far larger groups have been observed, they are far from the norm) with a technarcane engine at their centre, often supported from the ceiling in the form reminiscent of a chandelier. Individuals are hooked up to the engine via umbilicals attached to occlusions at the base of the neck that, more often than not, are grafted specifically for the use of umbraphiliacs. This precludes lower classes from the pursuit, which has allowed it to spread over the next few decades amongst patrician circles across Mharokk, Lidea and VAALK, as well as other lands N of THE INNER SEA. UMBREKHA: (Plr. Umbrakhin) also known as ‘shadow-wisps’. Gossamer-like strands of umbra that form naturally in the air around dust, pollen and other motes, clumping together like airborne cobwebs; or sometimes ejected by Atm. volcanos and vents. The clumps are extremely light and are often carried on winds, sometimes for miles. Though a single strand of umbrekha is of little concern, they tend to stick together, with large concentration rapidly corrupting flora and fauna alike, also draining strength from rocks (slowly turning them into DUSTSTONE). UMBRISKA: refined umbra. Where raw umbra ranges in consistency from tar-like to bituminous, the processed form, known as umbriska, is more watery, with a thickness of slick oil. It is dark in colour, though when reflecting light gives off a pearlescent sheen. It is rarely found in this form and most commonly needs to be refined from raw umbra – either through Atramental application or a complex industrial process, as in that found in siphon engines. Once umbra is refined into umbriska it can then be further altered, either by subtle mixing with other compounds or further altering its state, into various substances that are of industrial and commercial use, such as UMBRAEUM (a fuel), UMBRISKA GAS (also a fuel) and UMBRISKA NAPHTHA, amongst others. UMBRISKA GAS: a form of refined umbra, commonly used as fuel in cooking equipment and, less commonly, machinery. UMBRISKA NAPHTHA: an intermediate liquid derived from the refining of crude umbra, and often a by-product of the processing of umbriska. When further refined, umbriska naphtha has a myriad of uses, including as solvents and cleaning fluids, amongst many others.
Nate Mangion
2019-08-07 05:35:52 +0000 UTCCoastal all the way! Those transit times between different coastal places in the inner Sea region – is that by sailing, steamship, what? Also, a bunch of vocabulary is getting past me –umbra, Shapers, et al. how do I access the encyclopedia? Love the picture of the Demiurgw
Andrew Lovett
2019-08-06 19:13:23 +0000 UTC
