Geography (Paladask Supplement)

Geography

Incredibly vast woodlands filled with dangerous creatures and expanses of immeasurable adventure are accompanied by beautiful, tranquil, metropolitan cities protected from these dangers by massive walls. The life outside of Paladask's cities is unspeakably different and far worse for wear than inside of the walls. Below one learns about the continents of Paladask, the regions and the continents, as well as Paladask's cities and cultures that inhabit the plane.

Continents

With the shear size of the plane (and the lack of willing adventurers), only two continents have been discovered on Paladask, with an ocean separating them. It is a perilous journey travelling between to two continents, covered in more detail down below.

Avarol

The Western continent of Paladask, Avarol holds the cities of New Covenant, Ob Shang, Amendale, and Starkshire and also holds the notable ravine Vimmy Ridge. This continent was discovered in 2e102 by the famous explorer Ludwig Stark, whom Starkshire is named after. After time went by and people fought back the wilderness, three more cities were erected.

Avarol has more humans than any other race compared to Terris -a more diverse continent. The notable exception to this norm is with gnomes, as gnomes make up 80% of Ob Shang, a city on the continent. The people here are generally more religious, take the laws against the mages more seriously, and engage in questionable acts (including using the undercity) less frequently.

Speaking of the undercity, there are significantly less entrances to it on Avarol. Most people wishing to deal in dark deeds do so simply in cities or right outside of them come nightfall. Humans tend to get away with these deeds much more commonly than their other racial counterparts.

The monsters on Avarol are less clustered than on Terris, but they make up for this by being much larger. Whereas it is common to find a pack of wargs on Terris, it would be a rare sighting on Avarol. The opposite is true for say, an ettin.

Cities

The cities on Paladask are the first and last stop for large-scale civilization. It is practically fact that all Paladaskians will visit a city in their lifetime, and most never leave their home city. Cities act as commercial hubs, where business booms and cultures mix and match (although many cities can have distinct cultural/racial presences). Cities are often divided into three parts: the commons, the mages' corners, and the royal grounds. Commonly found in Paladask's cities are entries to undercities, low-class, mob-ran black market cities beneath the plane's grass and dirt.

Commons

The commons of cities are where every 'normal' citizen lives. This is where you find your rows upon rows of homes, your services, and your common townsfolk. Staying with your cousin for the weekend? Go to the commons. Buying an ale from the bar? Go to the commons. Looking for odd jobs? Commons.

The commons are the largest percentage of the city, and they hold all holy buildings, all educational schools, all public governmental buildings, and all shops. A person walking down the street in the Ob Shang commons for instance, would be met with banners and candle balloons along with embroidery shops and colorfully-decorated homes. They would walk past two cats, a dog, three different races of people, maybe a bandit or two, and broken party bottles and a shrine to Aripa -in the first two minutes.

Commons are the intermediary region between the mages' corners and the royal grounds. This shows on the commons, where one part of the expanse will be less kept than the other part. There will generally be more guards nears the mages' corners side of the commons than the royal grounds side. One sees a huge variance in smaller cities such as Valine and less variance in larger cities, such as Rag Tulane.

The majority of entries to undercities are found in city commons. It is logical, seeing as no royalty would dare go near the undercities and the mages' corners are so well guarded, barely anything undesirable could happen.

Mages' Corners

Mages' corners are the most run-down part of the cities on Paladask. They receive no funding, no renovation, and no authority within their walls. Guards do indeed patrol the perimeters of the Corners, mainly to keep the troublemakers in though. Pets are not allowed in the Mages' Corners. Tools and clean clothing are not allowed in the Mages' Corners. Sympathetic outsiders often compare these corners to prisons, but the majority of the population could care less.

The Mages' Corners began in lieu of a campaign of fear that ran throughout Paladask. Many residents can remember where they were when they received the news: "All magic wielders are to be taken into custody. Any mage who refuses this offer or any citizen helping said mage will be prosecuted and potentially executed on the spot. -Royal Decree of King Horatio the Merciful, Rom, Bontar 1 3e173." Citizens were murdered protecting their friends, their spouses, their children. The elderly and the young alike were taken away by the King's Army and treated more like cargo than like individuals. People fought back too, and for as long as a month after the decree was issued, resistance fighters could be located would be destroyed. It is a shady topic many people tend to stay away from, and even a punishable one if speaking to royalty.

Of course this was over 50 years ago now and things have drastically changed. Now the people of Paladask are stuck with segregated cities and are indoctrinated from birth to despise magic users. Guards only fuel this hatred and this fear too by 'randomly' raiding homes and businesses accused of holding or assisting mages. It is at the point that people are accusing family rivals or business competitors of being mages just so their lives are disrupted.

Mages' Corners vary greatly in size and make-up. Mages' Corners in bigger cities will obviously be larger than those in smaller cities and Mages' Corners in heavily elven cities will be predominantly elven, for example.

Read more about the mages' corners Here.

Royal Grounds

The smallest, most well-kept regions of Paladask's cities, the royal grounds are where everyone who is above the common man lives. Large, beautiful gardens are decorated with fountains and performing royal bards. These gardens surround the royal castle and mark the end of 'uncivilization'. Homes here cost more than businesses and shoppes here are off limits to common folk. Practically everyone living here has a servant and is referred to as 'Your Grace/Highness/Excellency'.

Architecture here is drastically different from that of the commons. Here, artificers and builders work to craft the most elegant designs imaginable, with engravings depicting legendary heroes and adventures and ballets. Architecture of the commons is basically stucco and tiles, stone and wood, nothing spectacular. In bigger cities, guards permit who enters the royal grounds and monitor who leaves. Any visitors who do not live in the grounds need written permission from royalty or from an official to enter.

Cultures

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