Symarr

The Golden Kingdom

Symarr is built from various different ecosystems stacked up against each other, throughout its moderately-sized Kingdom you can great forest, rolling hills and plains that traverse through a barren set of badlands infested with hulking monstrosities making the environment treacherous to traverse; if you travel up north you can find snow-capped mountains and blizzards in taiga forest; but stretching further east you find deserts and a volcanic hotspots. The natural magic that has rested within Symarr has made its own little varying world inside the Kingdom, cultural difference between cities are so extravagant that two cities near each other may have completely different ideologies and the people's lives are so different. In Symarr the landscapes changes the more you explore, so can you keep up with the change?

Region of Symarr

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Military and Magic

Symarr Town Guard by Leonardo Cino

Symarr was often at peace, only in the couple of centuries with the dominant force in the south: the Elensii Empire has seen the higher-ups in Symarr cause for more tatical might. Since then Symarr has set its goal on acquiring the strength to push back and defeat its enemies to its southern borders.
Syndicate Gold. The military order of Symarr from every village guard to the highest order imperial knight is a member of the syndicate - though only those who join the knightly order are put on the path of protecting the kingdom. Most of the order employ standard battle equipment like chainmail armour and steel longsword along with having archery regiments; cavalry units; scouts and other companies within the order. The highest ranked soldiers of the order are the Knights of the Golden Lion, the knightly order that would sacrifice their own lives even to save one fellow Symerean.
The Stars Concerto. While Symarr's royal family has always had a Court Mage, less than a century ago did the priorities of that shift from advisor to the crown in the affairs of the magic to overseeing the control of the magic in the entire kingdom. The Concerto are about the gaining of arcane knowledge whether that is the study of magic; creation of new potions and spells; and unearthing magical items. The most recent leader of the Concerto, Renthrall Destrius is special not only because he is the great-grandchild of the original Legate Arcanum, Pallius Destrius, or the youngest leader, but because he is not the Court Mage of Symarr's royal family.

Demography and Population

Symarr is a mainly human population, it is one of the areas in the continent that humans began building and expanding their dominion upon. Humans are seen in almost every village, town and city and are a dominant presence in the Symarr. The hybrid races (half-orcs, half-elves, and tieflings) tend to have stigmas against them and can sometimes get treated like second-class citizens - half-orcs are treated as fierce, ferocious, beast with minimal intelligence; while half-elves are often have a stereotype of thinking they are better than their human counterparts (taken from a similar stigma of elves and tieflings are seen as shifty, devilish creatures that shouldn't be trusted. These stereotypes have hindered the progress of unity for all races among Symarr, many people are split on how to treat the hybrids as younger people (who have grown up with different cultures and races) are much more accepting of the hybrids while those of older generations (who were often told of the absence of other races and were on a constant push back from monstrous orcs and goblins) have a lower tolerance and sometimes even a hatred of races other than their own.
Dwarves have been in Symarr since the land was first being settled, though following the Raptures most dwarves found themselves burrowing away building mighty citadels within mountains walls. After hundreds of years of carving out mountains, mining through the earth and crafting fine weapons from the ores received they began finding the process redundant - in their citadels most had enough ore and minerals, each family had enough sets of armour and a couple weapons for everyone. Dwarven culture had stagnated and it seemed as though everyone lifestyles were becoming very much the same. After reaching a standstill of culture, the idea of tattooing the skin began heavily popular for dwarves. Most dwarves now take heavy pride in their appearance, before their hoards of ores and minerals and the jewellery they would wear was a sign of significance but now, dwarves are about having the most interesting tattoos, hairstyles and other cosmetics to show their status.
During the Raptures most Elves began performing the arcane rites that they had been discussing to transfer their cities into the Feywild. Some elves began dwelling in the hearts of deep forests, while the despicable followers of Lolth fled into the dark underbelly of the surface known as the Underdark after their loss in the globally event. For the long-lived elves, their time in the Feywild only lasted on of their lifetimes - some of the first elves that came back from the Material Plane had actually been there before it went to a state of anarchy. The Feywild Elves, later known as High Elves, got heavily into arcane study during their time in the feywild seeing it as the thing that kept them safe. To the high elves a fancy spellbook with excellent well of spells was one of the most precious things an elf could own. As a matter of coincidence, the use of magical ink for tattoos became common practice amongst the high elves and its rare to see an elf without at least one spot of ink. The forest-dwelling Wood Elf became heavily attuned to the spirits of nature, many took up the ancient art of the druids. While the followers of Lolth eventually became the Dark Elf or Drow the matriarchal, authoritarian, subterranean colonies that have managed to live in the Underdark with abhorrent monsters due to the power of numbers and sacrificing the weak.

Religion

All religions deemed safe or appropriate to worship are categorized into the Sacred Order, these are the good or neutral aligned gods that commonly have dedicated church or secluded temples attached to them. These gods are the Founders and Virtues who wish for the protection of life and are invoked for peace, health, or overall general quality of being. Worship of Tiamat and Lolth were banned after they became lead their devotees towards the path of destruction. Similarly, the worship of both Archdevils and Demon Lords is also banned - raids against fiendish cults happen often as their rituals are often dangerous sacrifices of ordinary folk.

'Meaiss ein droit dieu mein'

Motto means 'Me at the right of the Gods' in Ancient Common

Type

Geopolitical, Kingdom

Demonym

Symerean

Government System

Monarchy, Absolute

Currency

The national currency of Symarr is the Drake, a common coinage used in most societies. It has three common coins: the copper, silver, gold, and a more rare coin of platinum. Each coin's face depicts the type of metallic dragon that the coin's metal is made of.

Controlled Territories

• Silkpass
• Tabbu

Neighboring Nations

• Elensii