Coruscare
The Coruscaren Empire
Both a continent and a country, this inhospitable region hosts my people, the citizens of the most powerful empire in Indarie. Most will consider us ruthless but we only do what must be done considering our desert-like home and rather, unruly neighbors. It is not our fault that they think us so unkind but their Casters are a clear threat of us. As such, we prepare for all possibilities when it comes to them, using our technology, our lethal homeland and unbreakable will to hold our own and expand. We are the greatest power in this world, they won't be able to change that.
Geography
Our continent is fairly large continent. At 80% desert and 20% actually habitable, it has been difficult for my people to manage the wastes but with the guidance of our emperor, his consul and our brilliant military scientists and engineers, we've not only survived but thrived as the greatest power in the world, the other countries and their Casters be damned. The interior of the continent is blistering desert, only survivable by traveling caravans stopping at the oasis towns that dot the countryside.
The largest of these oasis' is the home of our beautiful capital city, Solis, which has easy access to the largest of our port cities, Oceani.
The port cities are surrounded by lush vegetation and scattered trees. They are beautiful in both natural design and architecture. Steep cliffs protect the cities and provide wondrous views of the Stella Ignis Oceanus. Sweet breezes waft over the shores, providing relief to our homelands natural heat.
Localized Phenomena
The interior is plagued by sand storms, which can make travel dangerous. Yet with our ingenuity, we've learned how to handle these wicked weather winds. The sand storms can be worsened by the lightning, an unfortunate downside to our constant heat and lack of rain.
Fauna & Flora
There are plenty of small shrubs and plant-life that dot our cliff-sides, though we have a plethora of olive orchards as well. Our ocean side cities have a thriving fishing community, bringing fresh seafood to the shores and feeding a large part of our population.
Then there are the Drakie-kin, the top of the food chain here as they are in most parts of the world. Many breeds live and flourish in the desert. The monstrous creatures are deadly hunters, armed with claws and sharp teeth, armored scales cover their bodies, spines line their backs and can stick from their tails like spears. And if that wasn't bad enough, they also come with lethal breath attacks or venomous bites. Developing ways to hunt and kill them was a special challenge but one we managed well. One of the most common breeds is the Sand Storm, a sandy colored Drake that breathes blisteringly hot air, cooking it's target alive like one cooks fish in an oven and runs at incredible speeds, easily keeping pace with many of it's flying relatives.
There's also the other member of the Drakie-kin that lives near our lands; the oceanic dwelling Leviathans. Ironically, the adults, at least those without young, are less of a threat to trade-ships and fishermen while the young, those between the ages of three and ten, can be dangerous. Part of the issue is that the young ones are small and can easily get tangled in fishing lines. This leads to ruined nets, damaged ships and dead crew. More often than not, they are badly injured as well, leaving those fishermen little choice but to kill the young creature. Then they can only pray that they can get to shore with their haul before the parents show up, seeking their young and destroying the ship in the process of discovering what happened. The other problem is the young have no idea what ships are and seem to think they're toys. The most commonly seen one is the Fog Devil. Thankfully it is not an overly aggressive breed, nor is it extremely large, though most would argue that a two hundred and fifty foot predator quite large, otherwise our fishermen and sailors would have a much more difficult time.
Natural Resources
Sea life is one of the most plentiful resources in this land. Our coasts are rich with fish, shellfish, oceanic birds and plants. There are also many sheltered natural harbors where our large navy can rest safely and allows us to have great control over our sea trade.
There are also several mines in the interior which house metals, precious and otherwise, as well as marble and granite quarries. Our ability to build with these materials leaves our structures beautiful and hard to break down.
Elaborating on the Caster issue; it's not that we hate them, quite the opposite actually. They're powerful men and women wielding control over the elements and concepts of reality. We have great respect for what they can do. The issue is our land is barren of Casters, if one does posses Coruscaren blood, then they are mixed with another race or with a citizen of another country. Dirtying our blood with foreigners is unacceptable, so, we must figure out how to gain the magic for ourselves without mixing with those other countries.
Our experiments are vital for our understanding of Casters, discovering where the magic lies in the body is of the upmost importance. Knowing where to strike and render a Caster powerless would be a wonderful way to ensure victory over them. Perhaps there are even ways to transfer that magic to another host, though all experiments thus far have failed. An irritating matter of course but we won't let that stop us. Instead, we'll continue on and until we discover where magic is and how to take it, we'll place our authority over our Caster prisoners, having them battle those from their homelands who are like them for us.
On the topic of Leviathans, we don't actively hunt the adults due to their size nor the young due to the aggression we get from the parents at the capture and death of the young. But, on the occasion one does get caught in the lines and it unfortunately has to be put out of it's misery, when it's brought into harbor, the portions fetch a premium prince. There isn't much better in life than a perfectly grilled Fog Shadow steak.
Type
Continent
Included Locations
Characters in Location
Inhabiting Species
As a continent and an imperial region, this article is a temporary combination of the two. At a later date will I fully elaborate on the Coruscaren Empire. The people and region are tightly intertwined, making it near impossible to speak of one without the other.