The Warring Lands

"The Greatwyrms ravaged Western Drumis, starting with the Purging of Isodemos's Brood and ending with the Flight of the Reds. Thousands died and many thousands more were displaced, and after? People wanted what was left."

The Warring Lands is a historical and political region, the bulk of which is Western Drumis and the Tawarakanai Archipelago. These lands earned their moniker on account of the myriad conflicts and political changes that have marked the region throughout the Age of Ancients, and that continue to mark them so.
Listed here are the points of interest, subregions, and nation-states which dot and divide the Warring Lands, as well as some defining characteristics of the area. Trek them at your own peril.

The Cradle of the Lost

The Cradle of the Lost is the name given to the valley between the Iron Ramparts and the Gloumeda Mountains, which is largely the river valley of the Donnalin and the Xeshur, including Lake Stillbend and Islingneau Lake.

The Xeshur River

Several exploratory and settlement efforts have occurred during the Age of Ancients, but all have failed within a few years. Villages disappear, expeditions vanish, and the scant survivors tell tales of ancient horrors, dark ruins, and untold secrets from before The Reckoning. As such, it grows increasingly tantalizing to adventurers, explorers, and settlers, but remains an elusive and dangerous prize.

Isodemos's Ruin

Filling the surrounding wilds with the smell of acid and melting stone, Isodemos's Ruin is a scar in the land beginning in the Wall of Drumis and stretching a hundred miles south to the Lonely Basin. It is a desolate land of swamp-like vegetation growing sparsely between bogs of vile acid and gas. It was here that the traitorous black Greatwyrm, Isodemos, and his brood were felled by the other Greatwyrms.

On the northern end of the Ruin, in the monolithic Wall of Drumis, are the ruins of Isodemos's lair and brood. The corpses of dozens of dragons litter the scarred cliffs and caverns within. Isodemos himself died here, and from his gargantuan, ever-decaying but never-decomposed corpse a waterfall of acid and pestilence rolls down the mountains.
This acid rolls south across the wilds that were devastated in the battle, creating the pestilent, acidic boglands that form the majority of Isodemos's Ruin. It is said that insane and even undead dragons haunt these decaying lands, alongside countless other horrors.

Mt. Akkar

Whether Mt. Akkar was a dormant volcano or simply a normal mountain before the War of the Greatwyrms is anyone's guess, but the year-long stay of Ayrvorailth, Vyllath's successor and the second red Greatwyrm to fight---and fall---in the war, turned Mt. Akkar into the geological hotbed it is today. For two hundred years, Mt. Akkar has belched lava down its cracked mountainside and created a slowly-expanding plain of lava flats around its base.

Draconians and dragons still call Akkar their home in the wake of Ayrvorailth's defeat here, as do many elementals and deepfolk who have awakened from Akkar's geological activity. Deep are the caverns beneath the volcano, and hot is the lava that gurgles forth from its high caldera. The people of nearby Lingmell pray to Kaedo every day that Mt. Akkar never becomes truly tempestuous, and that day has never yet come.

Pre-Reckoning Ruins and Relics

Pre-Reckoning artifacts and ruins dot Drumis's landscape in far greater numbers than anywhere else on Emaxus. These locations are mystical, powerful, and dangerous, luring countless adventurers and explorers to their dooms---and, sometimes, to their prosperous futures. As civilization has continued to reclaim Drumian lands that were lost in the Reckoning, so too do modern Emaxians reclaim the marvels (and horrors) that their ancestors created before and during the Reckoning.

Powers move to claim these ancient sites and the artifacts within, knowing full well they could find the means to change the world. Whether or not that change would be for the better is anyone's guess, especially when one remembers that the Obsidian Lords ruled Drumis in the Reckoning, according to most legends.

Scars from the War of the Greatwyrms

The War of the Greatwyrms impacted all of Emaxus---and much of wider Yophas---and there were few places it as felt more than in Drumis. Both battled over Western Drumis, decimating any mortal settlements caught in the crossfire. The territories of Waelcombe and Cambolton were especially devastated, leading to them each being conquered and incorporated into larger nation-states later.

Maps

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  The Warring Lands

  This map depicts the Warring Lands (which included Western Drumis and the Tawarakanai Archipelago) as they were in 612 AR. This region came by its name by the conflict and political change that defined the region from the end of the War of the Greatwyrms and throughout the Age of Ancients.

Alternative Name(s)

Western Drumis, The Old Lands, The Land of Godfall

Type

Region

Location under

Drumis

Included Locations

• Cradle of the Lost

Included Organizations

• Alleriath
• Kingdom Mourn
• Ni-Taesuxuzou Empire

Contested By

• Alleriath
• Brackcombe
• Kingdom Mourn
• Kingdom of Istavinion
• Ni-Taesuxuzou Empire
• Numetania
• Obrasea Kingdom

Factions of the Warring Lands

Below, you can find links to the different major nations of the Warring Lands, alongside descriptions of their geography.

Alleriath

Alleriath controls a massive swath of the Lunancaster River Valley between the Ringrave and Gloumeda Mountains, as well as the eastern portion of the Gloumeda foothills. The southeastern half of Alleriath is predominantly farmland, fishing villages, and trade centers connecting the kingdom to Obrasea and beyond. The northwestern half is mostly mines, lumber yards, and military-industrial sites. Each half of the kingdom exists in a (sometimes precarious) symbiosis by trading these goods to one another.

Brackcombe

Brackcombe controls the northern half of the Istavinion Coast, the breadbasket coastal region that was the first cite of modern Drumian colonization. The southeastern portion of Brackcombe is defined by the Brackil River and its many tributaries, which feed the countless farms and cities of southern Brackcombe. Southern Brackcombe's many farms and forests provide raw materials like cotton and lumber, alongside stone and iron mined in the Gloumedas. Alongside the endless grain harvested in northern Brackcombe's sprawling farmlands and the fish gathered by Brackcombe's impressive naval trade, this kingdom is one of the most powerful economic powers in the Warring Lands.

Kingdom of Istavinion

The Kingdom of Istavinion controls the central portion of the Istavinion Coast it gets its name from. Its capital, Osedence, was the first successful Drumian colony in modern history, positioned on the coast at the mouth of the Scarsay Run. The kingdom spreads up that river all the way to the southern end of the Gloumedas, and controls the entirety of the Calerouth Peninsula it sits upon. The entirety of the Calerouth is coastal flats with sparse forests, while thick forests dominate the northern provinces of Istavinion. The kingdom also controls Terwell, the largest island of the Tongue of Drumis, which provides a great deal of lumber and naval positioning for Istavinion.

Kingdom Mourn

Kingdom Mourn is the youngest major power in the Warring Lands, which is why it is so far north and beyond the lands that most would consider "optimal" for settlement. Lerwick and Fort Parthen oversee the southern farmlands of Mourn, which provide almost all of its food. Most of the land north of the Arpar River is increasingly infertile and cold, but the forests on the northern borders of the kingdom provide great sources of lumber and game without the risk of conflict that the southern forests do, as they border Brackcombe.

Ni-Taesuxuzou Empire

Ni-Taesuxuzou controls the whole of the Tawarakanai Archipelago. This temperate, mountainous island chain was formed over four hundred years ago when Hametsu-sha's cataclysmic eruption shattered Tawarakanai Island. These islands largely share biomes and terrain (see: temperate and mountainous) but do vary some in the resources, flora, and fauna found on each. Typically, the southern islands have more arable land but less productive mountains, while the northern islands have the opposite.

Numetania

This Imperial colony starts at the mouth of the Cobalt River and spread up every major tributary it has, controlling the whole of the Cobalt River System, the farmlands and forests surrounding it, and the southern portion of the iron-rich Ringrave Mountains to the north of it. Numetania is quite isolated from the other powers of the Warring Lands, although it has been steadily taking more and more arable land to the west for farms and villages.

Obrasea Kingdom

Wedged between Istavinion and Alleriath, Obrasea is a kingdom with a wealth of soft power resources and a dirth of hard power ones. While it has all the lumber, food, and linens it could ever need from its endless forests and arable lands, Obrasea borders the eastern Gloumeda Mountains---which are distinctly notable for their lack of minerals. As such, Obrasea thrives on trade, utilizing the Birna River and the harbor of Cambolton to engage in a great deal of internal and external trade.