Caracar
Caracar was a giant centipede – kilometres long – with a huge forest growing on/out of its back, that continuously roamed across the world.
Caracar was the hub/capital of a large empire (of the same name) composed of various satrapies, all subservient – and paying tribute – to the civilisation that lives on its back. Historians came to call this area the Caracar Supplicancy.
The principal form Caracar's rule was the Grasshopper Knights, an elite force that rides giant grasshoppers capable of tremendous leaps that enable them to speed around the empire. There are networks of waystations (a la the pony express or stagecoach inns) designed to support these knights in their movements, as well as garrison stations all across the empire. The Grasshopper knights are in many places seen as noble saviours, in others as oppressors – and all these things may or may not be true in different times and places. after Caracar's fall, the art of grasshopper riding is lost for millenia before being reintroduced by Borathon.
The arrival of Caracar could bring both devastation and prosperity, and its movements were the stuff of rumours, awe and dread – partly stoked by the authorities, as the spectre of its presence helped enforce loyalty in areas where caracaran control is particularly thin.
Caracar always travelled with a large and powerful professional army; in other places, local rulers were empowered to raise armies as required to keep down insurrection.
Their control was stopped only by regions where Caracar itself could not go – chiefly deserts and the ocean. In particular, their disastrous attempt to conquer The Burnished Isles, resulting in their entire fleet getting sunk. This was the first major defeat of the caracar expansion, and somewhat put Caracar off of naval actions for the next thousand years.
The lone exception to the above rule of invasion was Sigmenod, which held out for some time against the (admittedly ailing) Supplicancy and ultimately outlasted it.
There was a breakdown in general government in the century before the empire's fall, characterised by rivalry and infighting within the various factions of government.
The Whispers (for reasons unknown) used their abilities to drive Caracar mad – forcing the grasshopper knights to put it down before it caused too much damage, resulting in them taking the blame and being gradually eliminated.
Caracar was dead and its empire fell with it. The former controlled territories went on with a greater or lesser degree of disruption. New Caracar , a much diminished (but still vibrant) city sprang up around the giant's corpse.
the name "Caracar" is translated from an ancient Punklands name for the beast, which translates as "Thunder of the Land". Caracar means "Land of Thunder" (Thunder of the land would be "Mehar Carac"). "Land of Thunder" is still a poetic name for the old Supplicancy.
Questions:
- Design the devastated region between Mattiha and Edesenkol - Part of this is either drained lakes or flooded areas (or both).
- Less detailed regions of Caracar are generally wilder/less inhabited/more tribal in structure? In the north, bullion and hack-silver common? Is it being displaced by coinage? in one place people just weigh out the metal and trade with it by weight. coins are convenient because they're small and portable, rather than because of the funny pictures on them. probably a non-centralised culture. in the next place over the Mint is controlled and a coin buys what it buys, in principle it represent a weight of metal but in practice it just means everyone accepts the coins as being worth the generally agreed amount because the state standardises them. i guess phrasing it that way, its kinda obvious how it would work - one side values coins as watered-down silver, no better than any other, the other side as coins that you trust cause the monarch made them. wow that cleared things up a lot, i can picture a trading post in my head now.
Geography
Broad areas of Caracars:
- Northern Caracar: from Sigmenod in the north to Mattiha in the south.
- Central Caracar: from Mattiha down to the Variflame Plateau.
- Southern Caracar: from Verdigris Plains in the west to Oboth/Saccharine Wastes in the east
- Eastern Caracar: from Oboth /saccharine wastes to the sea in the east.
- Delunustri peaks
- Antepar
- Verdigris Plains
- Tchep/New Caracar
- Mattiha valley
- Variflame Plateau
- Onor - Poisonlands/potionlands - snake-infused vs frog-infused. Both are at eternally at war. Both also have various other infusions that can be used to make poisons and potions. Very humid. Frog names are wildly extravagant, e.g. Natural King. also home to the elephant frog, the largest beast of the area, with a distinctive trumpeting croak, as well as the racobra (a racoon cobra) and aurog (horned auroch-frog). other frogfolk names: Thunder-From-A-Clear-Sky, Of-The-Nature-Of-A-King, innocence-rendered-sinister.
- Moss-stone forest - tradition of only cutting a bit off their hair at a death/funeral - close-cropped survivors of disaster. Possibly the moss of the region is an ever-expanding, smothering threat. Vinegaroons and silverfish are common here.
- Ranaskai (Mirrorlands)
- Saccharine wastes - uninhabitable sugar-infused desert in Caracar's far south. not particularly hot, but so harsh that even Caracar wouldn't enter it. in Unathyr and Mattiha's time, the waste was the centre of a major empire, and ancient ruins can still be seen there. was bright in colour, and now is filled with violent nomads. sugar exported to surrounding areas, which tend to have a sweet diet.
- Oboth: a smallish principality on the southern border between the Srem and Caracar, infused with chrome that renders the entire area sterile.
- Yannasvaer - the oldest region of the empire.
- Ecronaer - Punklands - the original home of Caracar Itself. dominated by enormous rotting logs. do locals have died mohawks, piercings etc?
- False Caracar?
- Cuspitar - sleep-forest - infused with ether (sleeping gas). bordering Fimiloc Bay. Humanoid sloths called Slothkin, poppies, laughing-gas, dreams, lotus. ents occur at border with Ylohom. connection to/rivalry with Oboth. Exports sleep-flowers.
- Preet - rat-infused areas with inclusions.
- rubber-infused lands - near Oboth/Saccharine Wastes
Alternative Name(s)
Caracaran Supplicancy, Land of Thunder
Type
Region
Location under
Included Locations
Included Organizations
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