The Sapphire Lands

The Sapphire Lands are set on the planet of Safyr. The planet is roughly 2/3 the size of Terra, but maintains close to 0.9G due to its dense core. Due to a minimal axial tilt, Safyr does not have changing seasons. Safyr rotates on its axis at a near one to one ratio as it does on Terra.

Safyr orbits around a single Sun and is in turn orbited by a trio of moons almost equidistant from each other. The Unification Calendar as standardized by the Emesus College in Marbelum, dictates that a year is made up of 9 months, each month has 5 weeks, and each week has 8 days, for a total of 360 days in a year.

The planet is home to a single large continent, with 3 major islands to its south. Various minor islands dot the rest of the world. There are 5 major geographical zones, the Arctic that spans the North-Northeastern region, the Temperate zone along the continent’s Central region, the Great Plains in the West, the Deserts in the Southwest and Jungles in the South-Southeast.

The planet of Safyr is noticeably dotted with forests of blue-leafed trees genetically distinct from other flora, dubbed the Blue Pine. The Blue Pine sink their roots deep into the earth, and have broad leaves, drawing nutrition from rare minerals in the ground and storing incredible amounts of energy from the sun. The Blue Pine secrete a viscous blue resin that glows in the dark from time to time, and when the resin hardens, is eroded and picked up by the winds, it forms the basis of all magical and psionic abilities when organic life interacting with it. In large concentrations, the presence of  the resin has also been known to be the cause of otherworldly phenomena. Despite its moniker, Blue Pine is unrelated to and do not resemble pine trees.

The vast majority of sapient creatures live in and around metropolitan, independent city states and are usually dependent on either the closest one to them for protection, organization and other basic services.

With the exception of the citizen inhabitants of each city state, the vast majority of settlements outside of cities do not owe allegiance nor need to identify with the city state that they pay taxes to and subsequently receive services from, and will work with whichever city state best aligns with their needs, or even none at all. Many colonies city states establish often begin with a high degree of dependence on their patrons and are subservient, but successful ones are usually eventually able to change the terms.

Life within cities generally afford individuals more creature comforts, especially access to a sewage system, hubs of commerce, and institutions of higher learning. Rural communities however are reliant on subsistence economies requiring manual labor, often farming, fishing, mining or logging.

Open warfare between city states are few and far between, and often ceremonial in nature with defined points of contention and a bidding system, where the city that bids the lowest quantity of forces to a conflict and wins, are regarded with greater honor and influence than they would otherwise. Such successful displays are often used to influence the actions and decisions of minor settlements around them.

The largest real threat to city states and to a larger extent, minor settlements outside them, are the seasonal attacks by Bandit and Pirate kingdoms made up of banished criminals, outcasts and marginalized societies that dominate the wild regions between civilization. What these kingdoms lack in technological sophistication and numbers, they often make up with tactical ingenuity and sheer brutality.

Often, these bandits and pirates pillage to survive, the regions they inhabit full of all manner of dangerous creatures, harsh environments and eldritch phenomena that make the creation of systemic industries capable of producing the excess in food and tools to defend themselves on a daily basis difficult.

While the vast majority of city states were founded and settled by the various species brought to the world by the Iluvidae and Tarfiinian gods as well as the Avatars, a small number were raised by native species that emulated the political structure of the immigrants. The large majority of minor settlements outside of city states are also made of native communities that predate the rise of city states. However in the present day and age, both immigrant and native species frequently move, intermingling and living side by side in the same communities.

The Sapphire Lands are technologically akin to the late medieval to early renaissance period of 15th Century Terra.  General life and warfare is mostly conducted with rudimentary handheld tools like swords, pitchforks, handsaws, hand axes and hoes, as well as simple contraptions that can be made with such tools, like wheelbarrows, horse-drawn carriages.

Most communities have also leveraged on the domestication of various native and immigrant animals mostly brought in by Humans, to work the land and transport people and goods.

Architecture in rural areas tend to be limited to simple structures utilizing local materials, or even carved out of the local landscape. But cities, especially the affluent ones with expertise, are able to be built out of local stone, brick and sometimes even exotic materials like marble, with grand structure several levels high.

However a few gifted or privileged individuals are able to manipulate and wield the Winds, an energy that resides within most sapient living things and also carried along by the air currents of the planet and originate from the resin of Blue Pine trees after they have been excreted, hardened and eroded into fine particles carried along by wind currents.

These individuals are able to use these energies to heal flesh, speak telepathically, shield themselves and others from harm, cause harm to others or even simplify mundane tasks, depending on their area of expertise. Magic has even been used to raise and form structures out of earth and plants.

Most individuals do not have the privilege of great social or economic standing nor the talent required to learn the art of Arcane manipulation from a mentor for the lifetime it takes to master the craft. Even rarer still are gifted or chosen individuals who are either innately capable of manipulating the energy that reside within, or are granted the abilities by another incredibly gifted entity of immense power, like the Five Iluvidae and Tarfiinian gods or the various spirits of the land.

However the world of Safyr has in the last one hundred years, seen a great proliferation of newer scientific discoveries made by reverse engineering and copying of more rudimentary artifacts recovered from the time Avatars ruled the land.

These breakthroughs have led to armies armed with gunpowder muskets, skilled craftsmen with magnifying glasses, and wealthy merchants with the latest in steam powered carriages and ships.

However, the vast majority of original working artifacts are beyond the understanding of even the brightest tinkerers and artificers. Most of these one of a kind contraptions are within the hands of the wealthiest and most powerful individuals and organizations, and more often than not, require Resin Crystals synthesized from Blue Pine forests to power.

Time is marked by the arrival of the Iluvidae and Tarfiinian gods on the world of Safyr and is denoted by GA or the Great Arrival.

• -5000 GA: The first record detailing the first sapient species, Giants. Communities and societies founded all around the Great Plains of western Safyr.
  
  
• -2000 to -1800 GA: The first collective records and discovery of various semi-sapient species around the world made by Giant explorers, and the categorization of them into Lagocavians, Skritlings, Salimar and Coralaxi.
  
  
• 0 GA: The skies burned as stars the size of mountains fell, marking the arrival of the Iluvidae and Tarfiinian gods and their Children. The Ilufae and Tarfii immediately branched out across the world, raising great cities, carving mountains, dividing the earth and seeding lush forests almost seemingly overnight. While the Giants refused the divinity of the Gods, they however were left alone to their own devices.
  
  
• 5 to 12 GA: Blue Pine forests began maturing all around the world of Safyr.
  
  
• 158 GA: The gods breathed life into the first Treefolk and charged them with tending to and protecting the Blue Pine forests.
  
  
• 256 to 312 GA: The Lagocavians, Skritlings, Salimar and Coralaxi were subsequently Raised by the Gods, gaining sapience. Communities of the Raised dedicated themselves to the Gods, working the land side by side with their Children, producing and prospering as per divine decree.
  
  
• 256- 1279 GA: While the Gods were mostly aloof and left the mortals alone and highly segregated from them, it also was the Golden Age of Safyr where miracles often trickled down from their floating cities.
  
  
• 1280 to 1299 GA: The Great Devourer descended upon Safyr wielding flame and destruction. The Gods did battle with their old nemesis of iron and steel, and for years the skies burned bright and the land was covered in ash. While the Great Devourer was eventually beaten back, the vast majority of the Gods themselves perished in the conflict.
  
  The few that remained decided to leave the world to chase down the Devourer and finish it once and for all. Five however chose to remain and oversee the world as they recovered, interring themselves into the earth and mountains and becoming one with the land.
  
  
• 1230 to 8600 GA: The Children of the Gods, the Raised and Giantkin continued to proliferate throughout Safyr, even though the Golden Age of the Gods and the wonders they produced were lost to time.
  
  Magic among the Children and the Raised began to appear during this period and increased in frequency with the rise and fall of successive generations, although the Giantkin were seemingly excluded from such gifts.
  
  Large city states began to form as the dominant political entities of Safyr.
  
  
• 8645 to 8649 GA: The Avatars arrived in the world of Safyr through a pillar of light, the spot which would eventually come to be known as the City of Lights.
  
  With them, the Avatars brought all manner of slaves from distant worlds and planes of existence to work the land, like the Humans, and for sport, like the Avasa.
  
  Worshippers of the Old Gods, rebelled against Avatar rule.
  
  
• 8651 GA: The inhabitants of Safyr quickly fell in line and begrudgingly accepted the rule of the Avatars, unable to challenge their martial might even with the aid of magic.
  
  
• 8652 to 9001 GA: Period of rule by the Avatars.
  
  During this period, parts of the Human slave population also began to change over successive generations into the Safyrians and Farangians as they adapted to their environment.
  
  
• 9001 to 9151 GA: The presence and frequency of visits by the Avatars from the City of Lights slowly began to fade. The reasons for this were unknown. Only occasionally, one or a pair would appear to collect the tribute of criminals.
  
  The Humankin and Avasa working the mainland as slaves gradually obtained their freedom as Avatar oversight decreased.
  
  
• 9989 GA: A large creature of iron and steel known as the Father falls to the earth from the sky, burrowing itself into the ground.
  
  Sapient creatures of metal with no knowledge of what they were began appearing throughout such regions as well, most peacefully integrating into society if they were not already hunted down by the Avatars. These creatures were called the Coretex by the Avatars.
  
  
• 9152 to 10,124 GA: The Humankin and Avasa working the mainland as slaves gradually obtained their freedom as Avatar oversight decreased and began to spread out and integrate into the world.
  
  The wider population began to see a dramatic advance in technology as innovation was no longer suppressed by the Avatars and artifacts left behind by them were reverse engineered.
  
  
• 10,125 GA: Present day.

Ilufae

Considered the primogenitors of the ancestors of modern Fey, the Iluvidae arrived ten thousand years ago to the world of Safyr.

Often described in tales as beings of incredible beauty and grace so radiant no mortal could look directly their way, and left no footprints where they crossed. They were also described as having six wings upon their backs and wielding swords made of light in other accounts.

The Iluvidae were known to be aloof, sitting upon their golden thrones in the sky engrossed in their own affairs. Yet a few showed interest in interacting with the mortals they created, mentoring them in the ways of the Arcane and the art of cultivating Blue Pine trees.

When the Great Devourer came to the world, the Iluvidae stood beside the Tarfiinian gods against the creature of iron and steel and all but a few perished in a pyrrhic victory and their heavenly thrones cast down to the earth.

Most departed the world to hunt down the Great Devourer as it retreated but two remained on Safyr to watch over the world, Leylaxi the Shining and Kayhali the Wise.

• Leylaxi the Shining
  • Leylaxi the Shining, often referred to as the Brightness, was known to be the right hand woman of the Archon, leader of the Ilufae pantheon.
    
    While initially uninterested in the affairs of mortals, during the battle against the Great Devourer, she saw the potential for greatness and bravery they had in them despite the destruction it wrought.
    
    When the Iluvidae decided to leave the world, she chose to remain behind to watch over them from her throne within the Embernest forest.
    
    Today she is considered the Patron Goddess of soldiers, doctors, judges and those that strive to do the right thing.

• Kayhali the Wise

• • Otherwise known as the Inventor, Kayhali was one of the rare few Ilufae that saw potential in the abilities of the very mortals he was involved in Raising to sapience.
    
    He was known to appear incognito as a wizened old elf, teaching and schooling promising individuals in the Arcane arts and astronomy, leaving most none the wiser even after they had finished learning all he was willing to teach.
    
    During the battle against the Great Devourer, Kayhali fought with his loyal retainers on the surface of Safyr instead of the skies, defending mortals from the creature’s attacks.
    
    Today, Kayhali is the Patron God of mages, scholars and those that seek to understand the true nature of the universe.

Tarfii

The Tarfiinian pantheon were the fathers and mothers to the ancestors of the modern Dwarves, and still widely venerated and openly worshiped by the majority of individuals and societies of Dwarven ancestry.

While the Iluvidae ruled from the skies, the Tarfii burrowed into the mountains of Safyr with their great cities where they gorged upon the precious minerals of the earth.

The Tarfii were often described in stories as broad, with bodies of stone and eyes that burned like fire. They could each single-handedly move mountains of earth and stone with magic beyond any mortals’ wildest dreams. And from the worthless stones they hew, they turned into elaborate magical creations of metal and rock.

Many left to chase the Great Devourer with their Ilufae allies when they defeated it over the skies of Safyr. But a handful of unnamed Lesser Deities of the Tarfiinian pantheon, too injured by their earlier battles, remained behind.

Today these Lesser Tarfiinian gods and goddesses whose names were lost to time were simply referred to by the role they served. The Smith, The Mother, The Warrior, The Shadow, The Ritual, The Lady and The Steed.

The Avatars

The Avatars, who call themselves the Ru’a-Tai by some accounts, were a host of otherworldly beings that arrived a thousand years ago from a pillar of light that reached to the sky on the spot which would now be known as the City of Lights.

They claimed to be the rightful successors of the Iluvidae and Tarfiinian gods and demanded nothing from the inhabitants of Safyr except their obedience and worship at all times.

The believers of the old Iluvidae and Tarfiinian gods rebelled against their new masters, but were almost immediately put down. In the end, the event was but a mere foot note to the Avatars, and barely affected their subsequent rule and interactions with mortals.

The Avatars were described as humanoid in shape, most often with a feminine form though a few appeared male. They wore clothes made of a skin tight material underneath and overlaid with armor of exotic metals and fabrics so thin they looked ethereal. Their faces were always shrouded behind a helmet seemingly made of smooth, domed glass nobody could peer through.

They also brought with them various Human tribes and the Avasa as slaves to harvest resin from the Blue Pine forests and to mine the earth. They also brought with them all manner of powerful magical artifacts beyond the comprehension of Safyr’s greatest sages, with which they fought with and bestowed on their slaves so that they may better do their jobs.

The Avatars would arrive on the mainland on flying chariots that roared through the sky, and roamed the land either alone or in pairs, serving as judges, juries and executioners, whereby they would also occasionally exact the one and only tribute they desired, the toughest and most violent of criminals. It is unknown what they wanted these tributes for, and they were always never seen again.

It is also noted that curiously from time to time,  Avatars were known to appear with intimate knowledge of things only these tributes could have known, otherwise they were obviously not those individuals, with totally different body shapes, voices and personalities.

While the Avatars largely did not interfere with the day to day lives of the free inhabitants of Safyr, using or otherwise touching an Avatar artifact, approaching or otherwise attempting to land on the island where the City of Lights stood, speaking or acting out against one, or interfering with the Avatars’ slave populations were cause enough to bring their wrath on entire communities.

Gradually, Avatar interaction with the mainland slowly faded away, with only one or two ever appearing every few years. Nobody knew the reason why but sailors that skimmed the coast where the City of Lights stood still reported that the sky reaching towers shone as brightly as ever.

Spirits of the Land

With the arrival of the Blue Pine trees and magic to the world of Safyr, time has also seen the natural creation and emergence of local spirits. Many mundane features of the earth, like a large rock, tree, or small body of water, have over hundreds of years undisturbed, absorbed the energies of the Winds and becoming spirits.

These forces of nature have a will of their own, interacting with mortals and sometimes developing relationships with nearby communities as a whole that have lasted generations. Many of these communities often venerate their local spirits as deities, providing various offerings and performing various rituals in exchange for protection from savage beasts or boons to their livelihoods.

To some lesser extent, mundane items like swords, lamps and furniture can with the same circumstances, also gain spirits of their own, and becoming something more than a mere soulless magical item.