Brightstone Keep

New home of House Hendrake, and the child of Poe Sawall and Miriam Kavinian.

Brightstone Keep is the most sought after Keep in the Shadow of Sarpadia. Brightstone guards a huge cul-de-sac in the middle of a mountain range. One has to take the Keep to get to the highlands beyond it, where enough food can be grown to sustain the population. The Sachir, led by Sarkhan Vol, a political mastermind, live in a dozen villages in the protectorate of Brightstone Keep. Razzik was the previous leader, and Razzik is an evil megalomaniac. No doubt he never expected to have attackers who could scale his walls. Razzik is a member of the Sarpadian ruling caste. Kargan is the Sarpadian Emperor. Karn and Skirk are the two generals assigned to this sector.

Sarpadia is what's called a Nadir. It has low technology and low (non-existent) magic. Muscle powered weapons, melee weapons and empty hand fighting are about it. No firearms work here, and even compressed air weapons generally malfunction, possibly due to the slightly lower oxygen.

Sarpadia is also the name of the main continent. It is a huge, sprawling thing, with tall, uninhabitable mountains, lush, verdant jungles and enough farmland.

Many of the cities, geographical features and people are named very dramatically.

Brightstone Keep has an inner Keep, a squarish structure, which was carved from a diamond. The lights it reflects give Brightstone Keep its name. The inner Keep is impervious to damage.

2013-03-01_19-31-34_138.jpg Side view of Brightstone Keep, and that there are 40 levels, each with roofs about 15-18 high, or higher in some cases, and with floors and ceilings at least five or six feet thick. The Keep is carved out of the side of a plateau. There are sub-levels below the ground level, or 1st floor, which has the tallest roof in the front. Ramps and occasionally ladders connect the floors.2013-03-01_19-31-47_963.jpg A plateau with sheer 800-1200 ft drops, and backed by nearly impassable mountains, the highland area of Brightstone supports farming, livestock and fishing. The Castle is therefore self-sufficient.

Geologically, the entire plateau was caused by volcanic action from underneath. The volcanic activity seems minimal at this point.

West of the mountains, the mountains drop off with a sheerness that suggests a cataclysmic earthquake struck millions of year earlier, sinking what was west of Brightstone beneath the sea.

East of Brightstone, there are flat plains, with sparse vegetation. Some of this seems to have been lumber harvesting, both to get the lumber and to keep enemies from building siege towers and weapons. North east is Alacania. South of them are the countries of Porania, Zellib, and the rest of the Sarpadian Empire.

Geographic and Political features

The Greedy Sea

This sea gets deep immediately. The shallows are minimal, and are caused by erosion and runoff. Several islands are no doubt the remnants of mountain tops.

Alacania

Ruled by an Oligarchy, they do not suffer fools, and are enemies of Brightstone Keep and the Sarpadian Empire, although that could change with the Hendrakes ruling the place. It's capital is Majestic Keep, which is rather humorous since it is neither majestic nor a keep. It has no actual walls, and has been sacked by the Sarpadians several times in the last century. The last as recently as eight years ago.

Porania

The portion of Porania is an extension of another country to the East called Dreanar. Dreanar is ruled by people descended from Elves, who used to be magical and immortal. The Dreanari are neither. They do live for several centuries, and Porania was occupied and supported by them a thousand years ago.

Graziella Rei - Ambassador from Porania

Ambassador.jpgAmbassador2.jpg

Cathayne Favilla - Emissary from Dreanar, on behalf of Porania.

Arianny%20Cathayne.jpg

Zellib

The populace of Zellib is said to be descended from a dwarven race that no longer exists. They are stocky and powerful. They mine, forest and farm with a nearly religious fervor. They are ruled by a King.

Sarpadian Empire

The Sarpadians are an ancient and decadent empire, who are responsible for the final eradication of magic in this place. They are enemies with Zellib, Porania and Alacania, and have ravaged each of those kingdoms. In return, they have once felt the wrath of the Last Alliance of the three Free Countries. They were able to completely destroy The Citadel, which was a City-Fortress built to be a command center to subjugate the North.

Vedova Nera - Emissary from the Sarpadian Empire
bw1.jpgbw2.jpgbw3.jpg

Hinanjo - Unaligned kingdom who has a non-aggression pact with the Tri-Kingdoms, but is not an ally. They have no relationship with the Sarpadians.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License