The Two Solitudes

Two great solitudes exist in my game world: one is of the sollus and the other, the spires.  More than eighty per cent of all people of the domain live in one of these two ways. They are less regions but ways of life. 

In the exodus, people abandoned their towns due to the great Tyrant purge, when for a period of two hundred and fifty relentless years the tyrants attempted to obliterate all civilization. The people fled to every corner of the domain, searching for sanctuary. In the north, the people found the spires. These are enormous stone plateaus many more than a mile high, whose top is protected from the cold. They have long been found in the winded canyon, formerly areas inhabited by the animals or flying beasts. With the help of rangers and others, the people soon began to find them everywhere in the north, as if awoken from a slumber by the pleas of the people.   Using spell, rope and flying beast, the people reached the top. Once they did, the people claimed it as their home and defended it as their own. Space and ecology was severely limited, and the balance was so delicate, no spire could support more than fifty thousand inhabitants and most far fewer then that. Thus each spire became a island nations, inwardly focused and shut off from the rest of the world.

As refugees found one spire inhabited, it was easier to travel to the next spire rather than fight the defenders of a spire. Yet this protection limited themselves in other ways. Each spire became inwardly focused, and survival of their people meant they turned away from a greater ideal. Each became an island, of one people, of one culture, and they cared little to travel. Most became self sufficient, and dared not risk the wrath of either the tyrants or the raiders by traveling the wind-torn land. The vast number of spires, scattered over the entire north of the domain, ensured survival for many species. The tyrants cared little for individual scattered villages, unable to raise an army to threaten them. 

Separated by distance, unable to travel, isolated from everyone else, the races became vulnerable to each other. Orcs, Salamanders, Minotaurs, and others banded together to raid spires. Though not easy or quick, over time, the lone spires always fell to the battle hardened ways of the sell-swords. The people may have been protected from some of the evils of the domain, but danger was everywhere...

In the south, survival took on another means. The Lyrrian elves first used their magic to protect not only their forests, but also the newly arrived immigrants that came to their forest for protection. Even with the help of their fey allies, the people were still vulnerable to the whims of the terrible tyrants, who attacked the settlements without fear of retaliation. Their problem was two fold. Not only must they defend against the tyrants, but also the cold and ice prevented traditional methods of livelihood. The people could struggle to do one, but against these two foes ensured eventual doom.

It took hundreds of years before some unknown wizards or priest discovered a simple solution. A common stone, sollus, long used to light underground corridors provided heat and protective glow, but it did not burn. Using simple magics, the magic of the stone was enhanced providing this warmth to a much larger area. The elves gathered this stone, and raised it in towers, which provided enough warmth to grow shum and shul. With this basic need taken care of, the elves, along with their humanoid allies united to fight the tyrant raids. Though they could not defeat the army of tyrants they were able to put them to a stalemate, and give them enough time to grow and able to face the next invasion. 

Over time, the use of this warmth stone changed people's lives. It became the center of all civilization. Provided just enough warmth to grow the basic foodstuffs, and enabled the people to fight rather than continually flee the tyrant attacks. The exodus was finally ending. Yet, this lifesaver came at a terrible price. Simple spells could enhance the heat and the radius of the sollus, but they also decayed the stone. With a finite life, cities could be held prisoners of their own supply. And the cold could over-take them once again, so the people warred over this simple stone. A delicate balance now exists, but people have fought a multitude of wars, as each group has fought for supremacy and control of the sollus. Empires have arisen and fallen. Even now war can emerge from seemingly ancient grudges, but the people have always found ways to unite once again, either from an outside force or from an enemy in their own presence. Life continues.

There are many cities and races that use sollus, but two major paths exist. The first is represented by Greater Lyrria in the center of the domain, near the great elven forest of Lyrria. The second is a human dominated area known as the old south. This was actually the last region believed to use sollus stone. So close to the tyrant' s home, these people knew they must be united. The military became core, and the people tempered by fear and discipline built a mighty nation, Mandos, has existed for thousands of years. The battle-king is chosen from the warlords, but his rule is absolute when he has rule. And thus the oldest continual nation and culture still flourishes, thus the name - the old south. Thus the two extremes. Either a strictly lawful and well-defined culture of respect and order, seeing themselves as a united people or a chaotic mish-mash as many peoples fight for the stone in games of strength and bloodshed. The Old South was homogenous, and they kept to old traditions to keep the focus alive.

These are obviously not the only places, but it is where and how most races survive. A few isolated valleys are protected from the cold in other ways. Some have ancient forest spirits keeping the cold at bay. In the far west, the Sea of Stones is devoid of all cold and ice, a jungle paradise as many believe, but worship the great enemy – the dragon. And Phastia, an ancient nation that in an attempt to defeat the cold brought unending heat and fire, ravaged by their own pride. Shaer-Lai is on another continent, a land some call Asian, but it fell a long-time ago, now it is merely a dead land, with undead princes bickering with few living Samurai there to serve them.

Yet life, in this land continues. Through the cold or the worst of the tyrant purges, the struggle of life in all of its various forms continues.