Lacrestand

Essences: ice/frost; ferns; mist

A large and frigid area of forest, composed largely of giant ferns whose necks curl into into the sky, brocaded in frost and shrouded in mist. The land is fairly productive, though the food mostly consists of various edible mushrooms and the meat of hardy animals fed on harvested ferns, and many settlements nestle under the canopy, lit by the faint red glow of the ubiquitous Embercap mushrooms.
Majority of the population are serfs.
A common infusion for inhabitants of Lacrestand (human and animal, and even inanimate objects) is mist. These Mistforms are unable to interact directly with the physical world, and a whole parallel ecosystem of plants, animals, villages and people exist ghost-like alongside the mundane world. The two are fully integrated culturally however, with mistforms even being seen as more pious and elevated to some degree.

One of the main hazards of the land are thick fogs, that temporarily infuse all within with mist. While in many ways this can be seen as a blessing, it has two negative consequences: the occasional conversion of those ensnared in it into permanent mistforms, and the vicious mist-infused beasts - mist-horrors - that dwell in its heart, hungering for flesh.

Structure

The entire area is ruled by a theocracy, the Church of the Third Realm. The creed of this religion is that there exists an invisible realm, overlaying ours in a similar way to the mist-infused, that contains great godlike beings who influence our lives. This pantheon is sprawling and extensive, with offerings and sacrifices often made to various deities for favour within their particular domains. A noted and prized sacrament of the faith is for a mistform skilled in The Breath to infuse mist into a normal individual, allowing them to experience a world nearer to the divine third realm.
A great fern-cathedral, with windows of sparkling frost-whorled ice, exists towards the northern end of Lacrestand, where the Archbishop rules over matters both spiritual and secular. The rule is neither noticeably tyrannical or benevolent, he's generally regarded as a weak fool, too soft in resisting the commonwealth and the expansion of Gyrism.
The Gyrist church in the area, a small but predominantly wealthy and expanding faith, is beholden to the Commonwealth of Reld. This causes some tension.

Military

The defense of the area is largely down to powerful breath-adepts and the mistform constructions they create – Lactrestand's army is fairly small.

Type

Geopolitical, Theocracy

Alternative Names

Lacrestan

Demonym

Lacrestandi

Government System

Theocracy

Official State Religion

Church of the Third Realm

Subsidiary Organizations

• Church of the Third Realm

Location

Isthmus

Neighboring Nations

• Commonwealth of Reld

Related Ethnicities

• Mistform