The Orchid Provinces
Where Beauty Entwines with Power
At the heart of the Capellan Confederation lies the Orchid Provinces—a realm of mist-veiled valleys, intricate waterways, and terraced hills that ripple with emerald and gold. Here, House Liao's ambitions take root, nourished by centuries of tradition, discipline, and carefully cultivated elegance.
The Orchid Provinces are a land shaped by art as much as by conquest. Cities rise like petals unfolding along the banks of broad rivers, their roofs of green tile and curved eaves mirrored perfectly in the still waters below. White stone bridges arch gracefully over lotus ponds and canals, and the air is heavy with the scent of blooming orchids, cultivated with the same precision and reverence that defines every facet of Capellan life.
The land is generous, but never wild. Rice paddies and tea fields stretch from horizon to horizon, broken only by occasional temple-citadels and fortified manors perched upon wooded ridges. Magic flows through the Orchid Provinces not in wild torrents, but in careful, deliberate streams: wards inscribed into bridges, healing gardens tended by learned herbalists, subtle enchantments woven into the banners of noble houses. Beneath the serene surface, however, lies a web of intrigue as intricate as any orchard’s trellises.
House Liao's hand is ever-present here, unseen but unmistakable. Taxes are exacted with precision, magistrates move with velvet authority, and spies drift through salons and markets with the quiet grace of falling petals. Loyalty to the Chancellor and the Confederation is expected without hesitation; dissent, when it appears, is pruned swiftly and without public spectacle. Scholars debate philosophy and strategy in the great academies of the Orchid Provinces, training the next generation of mandarins and tacticians who will shape the Confederation’s future. In the evening gardens, nobles compose poetry and orchestrate subtle games of courtship and rivalry, their soft words often carrying sharper edges than any blade. The Orchid Provinces are not merely the breadbasket of the Confederation; they are its soul and stage.
Here, the ideals of order, unity, and rightful rule flourish as surely as the orchid blossoms—fragile in appearance, enduring in truth, and lethally beautiful when provoked.
“A wise ruler tends a people as a gardener tends his orchids: with patience, precision, and no mercy for rot.” — Chancellor Maximilian Liao
