The KINGDOM of IAGOS

 
King and Wheel, Blood and Honour...

The Kingdom of Iagos makes up the largest part of the Imperial Southlands. It is a vast region characterized by rocky coasts, deciduous forests, rolling hills, jutting plateaus, and a substantial inland desert area. While mostly an an arid environment, it turns more lush as one moves north. Its climate is hot in the summer and generally mild and rainy in the winter.  

The eastern coast of Iagos provides extensive access to the Helicosian Sea inland. It borders with Torvaria to the north, Delon to the west, and with Capracia and Aesos to the south. Much of the Kingdom's periphery is defined by mountains, badlands, or dense forests, which has helped to shape its geographic autonomy. 

Along with Torvaria and the Principalities of Capracia, the Kingdom of Iagos is one of the three constituent territories of the Kasparian Empire. It is the largest unitary polity of the Empire, ruled by an entrenched monarchy with strong ties to the Church of the Holy Wheel. 

For this reason, the King of Iagos wields considerable influence within the Empire, but his power is often checked by rivalries with the other Imperial states, and by the Emperor himself. 

Since antiquity, Iagos has been threatened by outside forces; Cyron imperialism, tribal raids from the north, coastal skirmishes with Malochovia, and a full-scale conquest by foreign heretics from Talumia. This legacy of conflict has made the Iagosi people what they are today.

The CASA VANDERBILT

The Tyrson Company - Ladroa Branch Office

The back cellar entrance on Beco dos Trapos

Tucked away on an unassuming side street in the upper Armacenes district of Ladroa, the Vanderbilt is the new home of the redoubtable Tyrson Company.  

Formerly a disused storehouse with a questionable dive bar operating out of the cellar, the Company quietly purchased the building last year and has remodeled the interior for their needs. Few know of the building's sinister history, and fewer still know of the catacombs located beneath it...

LADROA: Introduction

The City of Masks

The Kingdom of Iagos is known for austere tradition and deep piety. For this reason it is all the stranger that such a famous city of sin as Ladroa is allowed to exist within its borders.

Ladroa has a reputation as both a lawless den of thieves and a lurid playground for the privileged. This teeming cosmopolitan port traffics in every commodity and contraband, and the riches that flow through the city have helped to fashion its dissolute lifestyle, where high and low mingle, and nothing is sacred.

For the wealthy, Ladroa is an unending carnivale of rare delights and forbidden pleasures, promising discretion behind the traditional masks worn within its walls. For the poor and downtrodden, Ladroa may be just as cruel and unjust as any city in the Empire, but it is also an anarchic realm of opportunity... as long as you have something you can sell. 

HARKREST

The City of Smoke and Steel

Harkrest sits at the head of a bleak, rocky bluff on the Ymiri sea. It is a foreboding domain, swept with cold fogs, and battered by inclement weather. The city's massive walls are stained black with the soot of the many foundries and furnaces that fuel its bustling shipbuilding and weaponeering industries, all under the watchful eyes of the ruling Grey Sea Syndicates.

ORANDA

City of the Sun Saint

Oranda is a walled city located in the northwest of Iagos. It sits in the Wenden Highlands basin near the border of Torvaria, and grew up around the banks of the Lastima, a distributary of the River Auspenwald. The surrounding lands are fertile and well-farmed, despite standing on the brink of the great desert of San Leone.

It is a stately old city with roots in the classical age, and residents generally enjoy a good standard of living. Besides agriculture, Oranda's location makes it a trading hub in the region. The economy is further bolstered by visitors to the famed Gran Templo de San Orando. 

The PRAESIDIAN CHALLENGE

a tournament of swords

While tourneys in the knightly tradition are still held among the nobility of Clarion, and the soldiers of the Kasparian Empire partake in their drills and pageants, a swordplay tournament like the Praesidian Challenge is truly a special event.

The great noble, scholar, and noted genius of the sword Prince Emilios Escaeda looked upon our world in tumult, only recently emerged from its long period of war and strife, and he saw beauty in it. 

In this age of both great enlightenment and great violence, he saw the dawning of an age of martial brilliance. He decided it must be celebrated with a grand gathering for the most accomplished swordsmen in all of Duatha - and a contest  to test their arts.

SONBAHAR~RYASIL

 
The Dream of Autumn

In the ancient reaches of Arvanna the One-Forest, in the lands west of Imperial Torvaria, there lies a secret enclave of Wood Elves. Ensconced in a wild, wooded vale, there is a Faerie niche that exists in a state of perpetual mid-autumn. Here, the potent Seelie being known as the Lord Vermillion holds court in a realm called Sonbahar~Ryasil...

 

MAP of AUSPENHEIM

 

This map displays the region around Auspenstadt, near the border of the Wenden Highlands. To the southeast is Torvaria, the heart of the Kasparian Empire. 

To the northwest, beyond the Valley of Obrau lie the mountainous realms of the other Auspen Princes, nestled amid the peaks of the Nimmerendes range. 

Beyond even that are the vast woodlands of Arvanna, the last great fragment of the ancient One-Forest. There, the old spirits still dwell, and men fear to tread... 

*  *  *  

AUSPENHEIM

Gateway to the Outer Kingdoms

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Auspenheim is a small, wealthy alpine kingdom with an independent streak, renowned for their jewelers, metalsmiths, and merchant class. It is also seen as the gateway between the Wenden Highlands of Torvaria and the more remote Auspen Prinicipalities scattered through the Nimmerendes mountain range.

TAATH NAHCT

The City of Eternal Gloom

Nestled amid the jagged peaks of Mount Chiros lie the ruins of Taath Nahct. The maw of the long-dead volcano forms a crown of immense jutting spikes that protect the city behind walls of sheer rock, and also shield it from direct daylight, filtering even the noonday sun into to meager shafts of muted haze.

Despite its mountainous elevation, Taath Nahct is mostly sheltered from the winds, and remains curiously temperate. Here, no frost forms, and no snow gathers - a reminder that in primordial times, this peak was a font of brimstone, fire, and lava. Perhaps, far, far below, that fury still slumbers.

The SWAMPS of MAGRETH

The Lowlands of Iagos

If one travels west from the coasts of Iagos toward the interior, the rocky hill-country will give way to the harsh expanse of the San Leone desert. At the border of these arid plains, the dwindling muddy rivers from the north are fed by the run-off from the hills, forming the great Swampland of Magreth.