Above the ruin of the Sundered Lands of Mara float the serene islands of Zu, a magical paradise inhabited by the wise and powerful Ciraquendi. Their sprawling white cities house an advanced culture built on and around the use of magic. The inhabitants of Zu see it as their sacred duty to regulate and contain the tempest of chaotic magic in Mara, lest it spread throughout Arcadia and wreak the same havoc upon other lands. In total, there are less than a hundred city-states which occupy the various floating island chains. Zu is divided into three regions whose borders correspond to the island they float above. Nexo Domina floats above Va Naelon and boasts the highest population of the three regions. The Arc lies southeast of Nexo Domina, above the island of Va Thyre. Finally, the region of Calo Atanbar covers the isles of Va Camlas and Va Sorna. A fourth uninhabited region of islands known as the Orphan Isles floats above the broken heart of Mara, Va Ademus. These lands are wild and hostile to life, tainted by the madness of the maelstrom below. At one time, ambitious projects to reclaim the Orphan Isles were undertaken – cities were built, roads were constructed, and the flower of civilization began to bud, only to be trampled by magical disaster. The projects were abandoned though the lone cities of the Orphan Isles remain in ruins, reclaimed by the wilderness more and more with each passing year.
The cities of Zu share a common root culture, having begun in the isles of Calo Atanbar before populating the remainder of their floating land. While the lands of Calo Atanbar hold fast to ancestral heritage, the newer cities of Nexo Domina embrace a more modern, cosmopolitan mindset, enamored with new ideas, philosophies, and artistic trends. The Arc remains a frontier land with new developments in culture taking a backseat to the day-to-day needs of survival. Nevertheless, all cities in Zu share a common taste for the philosophic, a hunger for knowledge, and a quiet passion for the steady march of progress. Other races look towards the Ciraquendi as wise men and upon witnessing the advancement and splendor of Zuvian cities, it is not hard to see why.
Most of Zu’s city-states do not believe in the death penalty. Those found guilty of serious crimes such as murder, rape or treason are sentenced to a punishment far worse than death; exile. Convicts are stripped of their citizenship and all rights therein. They are no longer called Ciraquendi, but receive a new title; Jur-Al. In the old Zuvian tongue of Navas, Jur-Al is the worst possible curse. It literally means “forever without light” and is used to denote one who was once enlightened but fell so far as to be lost forever to darkness. Exiles are sent off in a funeral-like ritual where they are ceremonially stripped of all their possessions and sent to the land below sealed inside a small coffin-like craft which glides down through the thick, gray clouds, never to see the blue sky again.
While the number of individuals convicted as Jur-Al varies from state to state, few Zuvians view their treatment of Jur-Al as cruel. The roots of Zuvian culture hold that Jur-Al were once beings with equal rights who deserved fair treatment, but upon committing their crimes, they exchanged their rights for madness, their humanity for monstrosity. Traditional views see Zu as a world divided in two between darkness and light, wisdom and ignorance, good and evil. While Zu and its enlightened people represent the good, Mara and its Jur-Al are seen as the wicked and dark things of the world. How fast a Zuvian holds onto these views depends on his upbringing; liberal idealists from the cosmopolitan world of Nexo Domina are less likely to harbor true animosity towards the Jur-Al than are the orthodox conservatives from Calo Atanbar.
The cities of Zu share a common root culture, having begun in the isles of Calo Atanbar before populating the remainder of their floating land. While the lands of Calo Atanbar hold fast to ancestral heritage, the newer cities of Nexo Domina embrace a more modern, cosmopolitan mindset, enamored with new ideas, philosophies, and artistic trends. The Arc remains a frontier land with new developments in culture taking a backseat to the day-to-day needs of survival. Nevertheless, all cities in Zu share a common taste for the philosophic, a hunger for knowledge, and a quiet passion for the steady march of progress. Other races look towards the Ciraquendi as wise men and upon witnessing the advancement and splendor of Zuvian cities, it is not hard to see why.
Most of Zu’s city-states do not believe in the death penalty. Those found guilty of serious crimes such as murder, rape or treason are sentenced to a punishment far worse than death; exile. Convicts are stripped of their citizenship and all rights therein. They are no longer called Ciraquendi, but receive a new title; Jur-Al. In the old Zuvian tongue of Navas, Jur-Al is the worst possible curse. It literally means “forever without light” and is used to denote one who was once enlightened but fell so far as to be lost forever to darkness. Exiles are sent off in a funeral-like ritual where they are ceremonially stripped of all their possessions and sent to the land below sealed inside a small coffin-like craft which glides down through the thick, gray clouds, never to see the blue sky again.
While the number of individuals convicted as Jur-Al varies from state to state, few Zuvians view their treatment of Jur-Al as cruel. The roots of Zuvian culture hold that Jur-Al were once beings with equal rights who deserved fair treatment, but upon committing their crimes, they exchanged their rights for madness, their humanity for monstrosity. Traditional views see Zu as a world divided in two between darkness and light, wisdom and ignorance, good and evil. While Zu and its enlightened people represent the good, Mara and its Jur-Al are seen as the wicked and dark things of the world. How fast a Zuvian holds onto these views depends on his upbringing; liberal idealists from the cosmopolitan world of Nexo Domina are less likely to harbor true animosity towards the Jur-Al than are the orthodox conservatives from Calo Atanbar.
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It is said that the isles of Calo Atanbar were the first to rise to the sky and will be the last to fall when the time comes. This region holds many ancient ruins and cities of great renown. The people here are conservative, traditional, and set in older ways of thinking.
Cosmopolitan and forward-thinking, the newer cities built upon the floating archipelago of Nexo Domina are thriving hubs of art and commerce where people from all over The Sphere come to study, trade, and live in a near-utopian dream.
Properly named Igo Arcola, The Arc is a dangerous frontier land where the people are hard, the opportunities are endless, and the law is more of a loose suggestion. There few settlements of size and most people live on large, frontier homesteads.
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