Loam Province
In Loam, nothing truly dies—not your debts, not your grudges, and certainly not your mother-in-law
Culture
Gloomers are hardy, quiet, and polite—death is not feared but studied, worshipped, and integrated. Funeral rites are elaborate, with some souls consecrated to return as bound servitors or death-guides for their families. Despite fears of uncontrolled undead, zombified laborers are commonly employed under strict regulation. Binding collars and soul-ward sigils are required by law. Music is rare and sacred, often consisting of chimes, deep throat-hums, and bone flutes played only at funerals or seasonal festivals.
History
Year 2430 – The Necromantic Sundering
- Multiple necromancers vied for power after the collapse of the last unified tribal authority, leading to massive unsustainable undead armies that broke loose of their generals.
- The undead ran rampant and the jungles became battlefields between the living and the risen they had created.
- Loam fractured into city-states that could hold out against the tide of undead, each ruled by a necromancer-lord or death cult.
Years 2431–2470 (39 years) - The Mourning Unification
Warlord Ezalia “The Mourner” Faenor
- Ezalia, a spiritualist and former healer, gains public favor by cleansing her region of rogue undead.
- Introduces the Bound Accord, legalizing the use of undead servants under strict ethical controls.
- Begins reunification through diplomacy and sanctified duels.
- Founding of Talo as a centralized seat of power—originally an ancient necropolis repurposed into a city.
- First iterations of the Ebon Crypt Academy and Loam Shadow Guard are established to control the sea of the undead outside of the mountain.
- Ezalia dies in a state ceremony, her soul encased in a crystal and placed beneath the academy altar. This becomes the first Soulstone.
Years 2470–2490 (20 years) - The Era of Bone Wars
Warlord Karric “Bone-Eater” Vohl
- Power-hungry and militaristic, Karric weaponizes necromancy to take control of parts of the undead militias roaming the jungles.
- The first expansionist campaigns into the jungles begin, finding and killing off any other survivalist city-states that still remained in Loam.
- The Loam Shadow Guard is formalized into an oath-bound military order; paladin oaths evolve to fight the "unhallowed."
- Constructs bone watchtowers across jungle routes—many still active today.
- Legalizes controlled necrotic duels in marketplaces and gladiatorial pits.
- Dies in battle against a jungle dragon whilst on campaign, his corpse sealed in a sarcophagus of flame-resistant bone and his Soulstone placed in a ceremonial sword.
Years 2490–2646 (156 years) - The Cold Ascension
Warlord Dume “The Hollow” Ysket
- Scholar of necromantic theory, Dume implements a technocratic rule.
- Creates deeper levels of Talo, including the Black Ring District—home to magical research and memory crypts.
- Rewrites death rites, shifting them from religious ceremonies to bureaucratic processes.
- Introduces soul-taxation: a tax paid in soulstones upon death, later used to power public enchantments.
- Builds the Ebon Crypt’s Chamber of Dual Paths, where students learn both healing and raising rites.
- Declares emotions a sign of weakness, banning mourning festivals for a time.
- Trapped with his phylactery by the Bone-Mask Rebellion in the Necrotic Library within an antimagic field fueled by his own soul tax.
Years 2646–2701 (55 years)- The Bone-Mask Rebellion
Warlord Ilasa “The Bone-Mask” Vel
- Former commoner necromancer turned populist leader after leading an uprising from the lower levels of Talo.
- Wears a carved bone mask, symbolizing the facelessness of the oppressed.
- Democratizes access to the Ebon Crypt Academy through subsidized tuition and magical aptitude lotteries.
- Encourages necrofarming—using bound undead to till and enrich jungle farmland.
- Forms the Fungal Cooperative, a network of Gloomers who grow and distribute bioluminescent fungi for lighting and medicine.
- Survives twelve assassination attempts; vanishes mysteriously at age 87—her body never recovered.
Years 2701–current (190+ years) - The Patron's Peace
Warlord Raghav “The Patron” Dev
- Former merchant guildmaster with necromantic training.
- Negotiates trade deals with Mirage and Shield Provinces—trading death-touched herbs and soulstones for arcane goods and luxury imports.
- Introduces the Undeath Employment Codes, standardizing the rights and restrictions of bound laborers.
- Restores the cost of attending the Academies; however, allows people to pay their way though service to the state and soul-trades.
- Revitalizes festival culture with the Feast of the Living End, a weeklong celebration of mortality and legacy.
- Opens The Patron’s Exchange, an elite market and diplomatic center in the top levels of Talo.
- His undead entourage includes former allies, lovers, and bodyguards—rumored to hold secrets in death they never shared in life.
- Remains in power, seemingly aging very slowly—some believe he has found a form of “mercantile undeath.”
Education
- Ebon Crypt Academy: A prestigious school of necromancy and restorative magic that focuses on the duality between life and death. Only a select few, typically noble-born or deeply in debt, are admitted. Graduates are known as Grave Scholars, wearing black robes with silver-threaded veins symbolizing life and death intertwined.
- Loam Shadow Guard: An elite paladin order sworn to repel the uncontrolled undead and protect Talo. Their oaths are paradoxical: they draw strength from death but swear loyalty to the living. Members are trained in both divine magic and guerrilla warfare in the jungle. Thier Armor is engraved with passages from the Tome of Ends, a monastic text about entropy, reincarnation, and moral decay.
Death and Service
Founding Date
2430
Type
Geopolitical, Country
Capital
Alternative Names
The Necromantic Heart
Demonym
Gloomers
Leader Title
Head of Government
Power Structure
Unitary state
Economic System
Command/Planned economy
Gazetteer
Loam Province is a land of constant twilight beneath a thick canopy of steamy, jungle rainforest. Warm mists perpetuate from serpentine rivers that twist like veins through the region’s verdant flesh. It consists of two major zones:
- The Living Wild – A dense jungle teeming with magic-touched creatures, rampant dragons, and legions of uncontrolled undead animated by lingering necromantic energies.
- Mount Talo – A solitary, jagged peak jutting from the jungle floor like a bone fragment from a wound. It is both a refuge and a fortress, home to the subterranean city of the same name.
Location and structure of Loam City: Situated inside Mount Talo, rising to its peak and descending far below its base. The city descends in rings like a giant, upside-down ziggurat. Residences, schools, markets, and tomb-temples are layered and accessible via winding stairs, magically sustained elevators, and bone-forged lifts. The deeper one goes, the colder and more silent the city becomes—descending is akin to entering a tomb.
Legislative Body
The Warlord
Judicial Body
The Jurii (Specters of long dead judges and lawyers)
Executive Body
The Keepers (oathbreaker paladins)
Official State Religion
Location
Official Languages
Neighboring Nations
Related Species
Related Ethnicities
Comments