The Valley Divine
An expanse of blessed wilderness, thoroughly mapped and explored. Even the wildnerness is known, preserved, and protected. There is a deep rhythm and order beneath everything within the Valley, aligned with the principles of Feng Shui.
The Valley follows a temperate seasonal cycle. The summers are balmy, but the wind that rushes from the seas and whirls against the mountains keeps the air fresh and the humidity down. Seasons last a full year, before phasing into the next - a full cycle of seasons takes five years, as marked by the constellations in the night sky completing one full rotation. The Sun of the Valley is a half-illusion - the warmth of the Valley is mostly geothermal, as the Lower Ash supplies heat and nitrogen to the soil.
At the moment, the Valley is snowbound, its thousand creeks and streams freezing at night and thawing in the sun of the next day.
When you first incarnate in the Valley, you do so at the Plaza de Boledi, at the doorstep of the centuries-old landmark, the Cafe de Boledi, in the city's historic District of the Gods.
Boledi, City of Cosmos
The city is old - but the great iconic domes predate civilization - the so-called District of Gods is saturated with cherry blossom trees, and the branches of the titanic tree at the heart of the the city and Valley winds great boughs throughout. Modern engineering has yet to replicate the sheer scale - it is all that can be done to simply maintain them.
The place is holy, well-guarded, and host many small shops selling holy water, bonsai trees and tools, mediation and incense. Many of the temples stand empty - waiting for new Gods to establish embassies. At present, the only worshiped deity - besides the druidic worship of the Tree itself - is praise for the Maestra Divina, patron of the city and guardian of the Valley.
Palazzo de Magistra Mystique
Among the many Academies, magic is taught dogmatically - the tradition of a great teacher handed down, and magics of other academies disparaged. These traditions are not all 'pure' - Air or Fire magic is taught at the elemental level, but higher magic is achieved not through cultivating a great connection to the Dream, but through the blending of many arts into something unique and versatile, which is then mastered alongside martial techniques and scientific learning. A student of the teachings of D'Accario is not simply a 'fire' and 'air' magician - she is a fencer, an expert in studies of light and heat, who blinds her foes with showers of sparks, soars through the air on a winged cape, can stalk her quarry by the trail of disturbed eddies, and fight in darkness by feeling the body heat of her attackers. A student of an Academe is called a Stregone, or warlock.
The Palazzo de Magistra Mystique is more rigorous, and accepts only the most brilliant students, and aims to develop them into 'universal women' - experts in all fields of science and magic. Within the Magistra, the Keepers of pure disciplines pass on their mastery, and certify students as having attained the rank of Esperto in their discipline. When a student has attained this certification in all thirteen disciplines, they attain the title of Magister.
Palazzo de Magistra Infernale
The less said about the Inferi, the better - cloaked in saffron, they hunt the mad things that dwell in the Valley and lay prey to its citizens. Every one of them is carved with select Riftcrafted marks - called An-runes - that bestow sight-beyond-sight, strength-beyond-strength, body-beyond-body. They carve the un-souls from the very creatures they fight, and infuse them into horrible equipment with which to continue the hunt. They are always accepting new initiates . .
Palazzo de Magistra Civil
Initially charged with the maintenance of infrastructure, the increasingly reclusive nature of the Magistras Infernale & Mystique has left a vacuum of power split between the Magistras Civil & Commercio, the latter having split from Civil one hundred years ago. Civil now handles nearly everything administrative within the city - from waste management, to road construction, to public education, law, official news bulletins, state religion, and the military. They are adequately paid, but somewhat overworked.
Palazzo de Magistra Commercio
Everything else falls to Commercio - an informal merchant's guild and insurance broker turned governmental body, responsible for taxation and naval affairs. The strange blocky edifice that sticks like a sore thumb out of Boledi's thriving market district is said to hold the cities' stores of Holy Pearls, and many a thief has made designs on that untapped hoard of power . . and been soundly rebuffed by the most advanced magical defenses in the land.
The Tarrekian Range, Gate-Temple of the Lower Ash
Lyoni, Holy City by the Sea
Wreathe, Sleeping City of the Riftcrafters
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:34, Sun 23 Dec 2018.