Impossible Lands
Magic allows for astounding feats, yet even those who consider themselves experts in the magical arts pause in wonder before the spectacles to be found in the Impossible Lands. What is taken for granted in these strange and eclectic nations would be all but impossible elsewhere.
Take Geb as an example. Here, the living are the minority, and undeath is the predominant way of life. Cruelty, sadism, and violence are the norm in Geb, as one might expect of a land ruled by a violent, undead dictator. This ghost, for whom the country was named, has ruled his nation for thousands of years, although for the past several centuries the day-to-day rule of the land fell to his queen, Arazni. Her recent disappearance (many would instead say “escape”) and abandonment of her duties have invigorated the ghost sovereign to once again take active leadership of his benighted realm.
Geb has opposed its northern neighbor, Nex, for the entirety of its existence. Also named after its ruler, Nex is a cosmopolitan realm where magic is mundane. Nex himself has been missing for ages, yet in his absence the Arclords have ruled quite effectively. Here, golems patrol the streets, and the practice of fleshwarping is an accepted and legitimate industry.
Between these two opposed nations lies a stretch of land known as the Mana Wastes, a blasted and blighted badland formed by the ancient wars between Nex and Geb. The very magic of these lands is damaged — or in many reaches dead entirely — and peculiar mutants flop and prowl through the ruins in search of prey.
Only in the duchy of Alkenstar does life approach anything approximating normal, but even here the assumptions of the rest of the world are turned on their head. With magic being unpredictable, Alkenstar’s citizens have turned instead to technology. The nation is home to metallurgists and machinists, and the art of gunsmithing gives them an excellent advantage in this part of the world. Exports of firearms have steadily increased over the years, and Alkenstar is emerging as a significant power of its own as a result.
Across the waters of the Obari Ocean lies the final realm of the Impossible Lands: the island nation of Jalmeray. Here it isn’t magic alone that allows for impossibilities but also focused self-control and perfection of the spirit. The people of Jalmeray have accomplished astounding physical feats and achieved remarkable intellectual insights using nothing more than ancient traditions of mysticism and self-perfection.
Take Geb as an example. Here, the living are the minority, and undeath is the predominant way of life. Cruelty, sadism, and violence are the norm in Geb, as one might expect of a land ruled by a violent, undead dictator. This ghost, for whom the country was named, has ruled his nation for thousands of years, although for the past several centuries the day-to-day rule of the land fell to his queen, Arazni. Her recent disappearance (many would instead say “escape”) and abandonment of her duties have invigorated the ghost sovereign to once again take active leadership of his benighted realm.
Geb has opposed its northern neighbor, Nex, for the entirety of its existence. Also named after its ruler, Nex is a cosmopolitan realm where magic is mundane. Nex himself has been missing for ages, yet in his absence the Arclords have ruled quite effectively. Here, golems patrol the streets, and the practice of fleshwarping is an accepted and legitimate industry.
Between these two opposed nations lies a stretch of land known as the Mana Wastes, a blasted and blighted badland formed by the ancient wars between Nex and Geb. The very magic of these lands is damaged — or in many reaches dead entirely — and peculiar mutants flop and prowl through the ruins in search of prey.
Only in the duchy of Alkenstar does life approach anything approximating normal, but even here the assumptions of the rest of the world are turned on their head. With magic being unpredictable, Alkenstar’s citizens have turned instead to technology. The nation is home to metallurgists and machinists, and the art of gunsmithing gives them an excellent advantage in this part of the world. Exports of firearms have steadily increased over the years, and Alkenstar is emerging as a significant power of its own as a result.
Across the waters of the Obari Ocean lies the final realm of the Impossible Lands: the island nation of Jalmeray. Here it isn’t magic alone that allows for impossibilities but also focused self-control and perfection of the spirit. The people of Jalmeray have accomplished astounding physical feats and achieved remarkable intellectual insights using nothing more than ancient traditions of mysticism and self-perfection.
