Historia: Core Book

Dark Fantasy Renaissance Setting for 5e

2 Credits HISTORIA is a dark fantasy Renaissance-inspired setting for the 5th edition of the World’s most famous roleplaying game. The world of Historia was created by Mirko Failoni In memory of Gabriele Giardina-Harding Authors: Mirko Failoni, Michele Paroli, Matteo Pedroni Editorial Supervisor: Ariel Vittori Game Design: Davide Milano, Matteo Pedroni Narrative Development: Mirko Failoni, Laura Guglielmo Writing: Laura Guglielmo Proofreading: Alex Valente, Enrico Emiliani, Gabriele Giardina-Harding, Richard Hart Translation: Alex Valente, Jason Forbus Graphic Design: Michele Paroli, Elena Giovannetti Art Direction: Mirko Failoni Cover Illustration: Mirko Failoni Illustrations: Alberto Besi, Andrea Tentori Montalto, Angelo Peluso, Antonio De Luca, Daniela Giubellini, Daniele Solimene, Domenico Cava, Edoardo Campagnolo, Federica Costantini, Giulio Perozziello, Imma Botti, Mauro Alocci, Michele Esposito, Michele Parisi, Mirko Failoni, Piero Vianello, Riccardo Moscatello, Roman Kuteynikov Maps: Fabio Porfidia Title Calligraphy: Loris De Marco Character Sheet: Laura Guglielmo Playtester & Special Thanks: Matteo Frisone, Andrea Guglielmo, Stefano Padelli, Willy Guasti, Dario Berto, Filippo Bosi, Andrea ‘Il Rosso’ Lucca, Alex Melluso, Fausto ‘Abyssoul’ Palumbo, Valerio ‘Korax’ Carbone, Daniele ‘Danko’ Angelozzi, Marco Bucci, Attaccapanni Press, Codex Venator, La Locanda del Drago Rosso, Andrea Felicioni, Riccardo ‘Musta’ Caverni, Roberto ‘Orsogufo’ Rossi, Chiara Musi, Matteo Moret, Cecilia Govi, Luca Bianco, Sofia Magnani, Davide Di Maio, Alessandro Caridi, Giacomo Kuroda, Valentina Bruseghini A huge thank you goes out to all the backers who supported our project on Kickstarter, making this adventure possible! You can find the complete list on page 320. Printed in Lithuania in 2021. Historia is © Mana Project Studio & Mirko Failoni 2021 Reproduction of any material from this work without permission is prohibited. Historia is a fictional product, any references to people, places and events similar to reality are purely coincidental.

3 Index CHAPTER FOUR: PROFESSIONS 120 Alchemist 122 Doctor of Science 126 Cycles 129 Armiger 130 War Archetype 132 Flagellant 135 Philosophies 138 Magus 141 Secrets 144 Merchant 152 Merchant Style 155 Priest 158 The Way of the Faithful 160 Sapper 165 Sapper Specialization 167 Improvements 169 Scholar 171 Field of Study 175 Scoundrel 176 Scoundrel Archetypes 178 Venturer 181 Journey of the Venturer 184 CHAPTER FIVE: VENTURES 188 Ventures 190 Art 191 Destiny 192 Devotion 193 Discovery 194 Enlightenment 195 Heritage 196 Revenge 197 Revolution 198 Void 199 CHAPTER SIX: WEALTH AND INFLUENCE 200 Wealth and Influence 202 Factions 206 Brethren of Worms 208 Church of Bones 210 Circle of Whispers 212 Confraternity of the Mortified 214 Emissaries of the Khan 216 Fellowship of the Compass 218 People’s Army 220 Pug Heresy 222 Ordo Artis Occulta 224 CREDITS 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 FOREWORDS 4 CHAPTER ONE: OVERVIEW 6 The Book 8 Further Reading 10 Historia’s Scenarios 13 CHAPTER TWO: VESTERIA 14 Vesteria 16 The Confederation 20 The Holy Kingdom 27 The Green Pit 35 The Avian Islands 43 CHAPTER THREE: FAMILIAE AND SPECIES 50 Familiae and species 52 Orders 52 Instinct 53 Theri 54 Canidi Familia 54 Edenti Familia 58 Eulipi Familia 62 Felidi Familia 66 Licai Familia 69 Mustacei Familia 72 Rodenti Familia 77 Ruminsi Familia 81 Sauti Familia 86 Urcidi Familia 88 Vespertili Familia 91 Avians 94 Anseri Familia 95 Corbei Familia 98 Grarconi Familia 101 Pici Familia 105 Rapax Familia 108 Ruspei Familia 112 Strigi Familia 116 Table of Contents Creating a Faction 226 Careers 228 Artisan 229 Artist 230 Cartographer 231 Historian 232 Mentor 233 Official 234 Outlaw 235 Sailor 236 Soldier 237 Creating a Carreer 239 CHAPTER SEVEN: EQUIPMENT OF VESTERIA 240 Armors 242 Shields 244 Weapons 245 Avian Armors, Shields and Weapons 248 Firearms 249 CHAPTER EIGHT: ADDITIONAL RULES 250 Inspiration 252 Wounds, Fight and Death 253 Adventures 256 Opponents 259 CHAPTER NINE: PITCHED BATTLES 262 CHAPTER TEN: CHARACTERS OF HISTORIA 270 Heroes of Historia 272 Non-Player Characters 293 BACKER LIST 318 INDEX 332 CHARACTER SHEET 335 OGL 336

Forewords

5 Forewords Anthropomorphic animals are extremely useful in this respect, because they can fit different molds. Our shared imagination can feature a wolf laughing amicably in a cartoon, or growling ferally, depending on the context. I wanted to strike the right balance in Historia, so that both aspects could plausibly coexist. For this reason, my suggestion for those who will play the game is to not take it too lightly, as it would deter from experiencing the more dramatic and impactful aspects embedded in the game and setting; likewise, I do not recommend never finding time for some humor and lightheartedness in your games. Though the emphasis is on the dark aesthetic, it was chosen to balance and place anthropomorphism in a different context from that which we might be used to, but this does not mean it is the sole aspect of the game. Everyone in Vesteria has their own motivation, and they act, move, and live in a context which they will have to deal with no matter what. For this reason, my suggestion is for you to develop your character and your adventures starting from a general concept, and then consider the various elements in order to fully embed the character in their surroundings, including the challenges, difficulties and weaknesses they will have to overcome or face. Everything I have told you in this preface, however, is still dependent on what Historia is to me, in my books, in my comics, and in the canon I have chosen to create – and all of it is just a starting point for you to build your version of this universe and of your story. As a Game Master, I have taken several other settings, stories, worlds, and have bended them to what I wanted to bring to the table, narratively, or emotionally. As I did that, I’d imagine how honored I would be if someone, using my own work, could do the same to play out their own stories. As of today, you are also part of Vesteria, and you will be writing a small part of the world I initially created – a shared world, which is now also yours. Welcome to Historia. Mirko We had no idea how wrong we were. We would soon be expanding the creative team to include Matteo Pedroni, the other co-author of the manual, and evolved the project from a 150-page booklet to two volumes of three hundred pages, in full color, with miniatures and added extras. You already know the rest of the story, from the Kickstarter to this book, and you are part of it too – maybe it’s even thanks to you that this book exists. How was the concept behind the book born, you may ask? In some ways, it’s a synthesis of several of my interests. You will find some of Disney’s Robin Hood, some of my interest in weapons and armor, some hundreds of hours of listening to professor Alessandro Barbero, my love for animals, for video games, for RPGs, for politics, for characters and the causes of what become stories. It’s never easy to exactly locate one’s work, especially with the lack of objectivity towards each production, be it positive or, more often in my case, negative. I will not try to do so, then, and instead talk about my reading of Historia. Many products with animals as their main characters tend to be aimed at younger readers and usually attempt to teach something, tinting events with one color or another, and often categorizing characters into ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys’. In Historia, which is aimed at a more mature audience, I’d prefer if people focused on the gray tones that every character, story, or situation inevitably carries. This does not preclude the existence of archetypal characters, at all. Anthropomorphic animals are a solution which isn’t limited to the aesthetic, and can easily become a tool to represent human archetypes in an interesting and immediate manner, which can in turn be used to play with contrasts and moral hues. However, even in the context of a single archetypal character like Desmond the Paladin, I would like for people to discover and explore – through Historia – the cases where white and black overlap and mix. What are the values which a hero, a defender of the faith, a symbol, has to learn to put aside as they inhabit their role? Compassion, maybe? Honesty? Freedom? Humanity? Stories are born from this very tension.

Chapter One - Overview he first part of this chapter showcases the contents of the Historia manual, breaking down the information within and explaining how it can be used by both GMs and players. The second part suggests further reading on the game’s structure and how best to make use of its framework: how to roleplay the anthropomorphic animals in Vesteria, what themes to tackle in a game, how to best set narrative boundaries according to the players’ needs and sensibilities, and suggestions about Historia sessions.

8 THE BOOK CHAPTER I - OVERVIEW The first part of this chapter showcases the contents of the Historia manual, breaking down the information within and explaining how it can be used by both GMs and players. The second part suggests further reading on the game’s structure and how best to make use of its framework: how to roleplay the anthropomorphic animals in Vesteria, what themes to tackle in a game, how to best set narrative boundaries according to the players’ needs and sensibilities, and suggestions about Historia sessions. CHAPTER II - VESTERIA The second chapter in the manual delves into the complex and fascinating world of Historia, exploring the geography, politics and society of Vesteria, the western continent where most of the game’s stories takes place. Vesteria is partially inspired by Renaissance Europe, especially the central and southern countries’ social tapestry of political intrigue and struggles; unlike Europe however, Vesteria is populated with anthropomorphic animals and magic is real. It is divided into a number of regions: the Holy Kingdom, a military theocracy based on the worship and belief in the sacred nature of Bones; the Green Pit, a savage, untamed land with no real political structure and large city-mines constantly targeted for their resources; and the Confederation of Free Cities, a union of autonomous city-states in constant but mostly amicable rivalry, in which wealth and culture are both equal pretenders to the throne. CHAPTER III - FAMILIAE AND SPECIES In Historia, you play the part of a sentient anthropomorphic animal, and this chapter showcases the various animals available to play. Familiae are what would be considered Races in the game, with Species replacing sub-races, though with more specific and unique characteristics for each. Theri and Avians are the predominant Familiae of Vesteria, and the manual details the rules to play these two macro categories, based respectively on our world’s mammals and birds. Sauri and Lissames, our reptiles and amphibians, are not discussed as they are Species present in other geographical areas and only encountered in Vesteria as travelers or visitors. The list of Familiae offered in this chapter is lengthy and varied, though not exhaustive, and covers the most common and representative animals. GMs and players are free to introduce any missing creatures, along with modifying traits and descriptions if they don’t align with their roleplaying choices: anthropomorphic animals are an archetype, but that does not nor should it make them into static caricatures. CHAPTER IV - PROFESSIONS The Professions chapter contains the rules regarding character classes, redeveloped to better fit Historia’s dark Renaissance setting and considering the presence of a rare, mysterious form of magic. Venturing professions represent the path you choose to make your way through the world of Vesteria, as well as the skills you rely upon to solve problems and take part in intrigue and struggles for survival. The professions don’t include the entirety of what characters might choose to Overview

9 Overview do with their life, but are rather a meeting point between the crucial parts of the adventure and the more common occupations with interesting qualities, in order to better experience the game’s style of storytelling. Alchemists, armigers, sages, rogues, engineers, magi, merchants, mortifieds, priests, and mercenaries are the foundations of Historia’s narratives, and play its leading roles; some are rarer than others, especially the ones with magical tendencies, and even more so if that magic is not linked to the Church. Remember: Historia’s emphasis on ‘scarcity’ is crucial to the narrative. CHAPTER V - VENTURES The fifth chapter showcases the characters’ ventures, the motivations that urge them to risk their lives, face dangers, adventures, plots, and pursue their own interests. Ventures replace the background feature, too often relegated purely to the moment of character creation, which here merges the character’s past with future events; it adds a narrative element to assist GMs and players in creating rich, compelling sessions, propelled by genuine motivation. CHAPTER VI - WEALTH AND INFLUENCE In the world of Historia wealth and influence are the most important gauges for an individual’s personal success, allowing them access to important resources, crucial contacts and better living conditions. To best represent the correlation between financial abilities and the possibilities of a character, this chapter introduces coin, an abstraction representing their wealth on a numeric scale, so that the meaning of wealth and its consequences can be better explored narratively without having to refer to a long list of items. To instead measure the influence that a character can gain, we introduce the concept of fame: a numeric value that allows to appraise and compare influence levels between characters. Fame is generally achieved through exploits and successes, though it also features specifically in a character’s field of expertise or the organizations they belong to. The latter represent a large portion of the powers controlling Vesteria, and the chapter details which factions you could choose: starting as a simple novice and increasing your influence as you climb up through the ranks; one day you might even reach the higher echelons of the faction. You can also build upon your fame within your chosen career, making a name for yourself across the continent through your chosen occupation. CHAPTER VII - EQUIPMENT OF VESTERIA Historia is set in a heavily European Renaissance inspired setting, meaning its items and traditions are a little different from traditional high fantasy. It also tries bridging the gap between the suspension of disbelief of playing anthropomorphic animals and the research and detail of the world itself. The best way of exploring this is through the use of specific equipment, allowing any armiger Weasel to fend for themselves in a duel with a parrying dagger as guard while they take down opponents with a side-sword, shielded by the thick layers of a gambeson; or a Felid to aim true with their musket behind a tavolaccio from the rear guard. The chapter carefully details armor, weapons, firearms, item properties and rules to make equipment a tool capable of bringing players deeper into the world of Historia. CHAPTER VIII - ADDITIONAL RULES Historia bases its rules on the most played role-playing game in the world, but also includes some modifications to better suit the themes, the setting, and the style of game it wants to bring to the table. This chapter collects new rules or amendments to allow GMs and players to fully inhabit the gaming experience: death is much more than a specter haunting the world of Vesteria, and the game ensures this is felt through an

10 è rappresentato con le proprie statistiche di gioco e il proprio passato, ricco di spunti per avventure e narrazioni oltre che di riferimenti al corso degli eventi del mondo di Historia fino a oggi. Per finire, in questo capitolo sono anche presentati i modelli per creare i personaggi non giocanti (PNG) in maniera archetipica, in modo da aver pronti rapidamente diversi profili di avversari che si contrapporranno ai personaggi e porteranno il GM a dover improvvisare un nuovo intrigo e una nuova avventura nel mondo di Historia FURTHER READING ROLEPLAYING ANTHROPOMORPHIC ANIMALS In Historia, you will act out the role of anthropomorphic animals, whose abilities and characteristics are very human, from a period of history similar to the Renaissance of southern Europe; in this world, however, magic is real and tangible, and the winds of war always blow across the continental peninsula of Vesteria. The political patchwork of this land sees the rule of the fittest enacted not entirely through brute strength, but rather through power, wealth, resources, and weapons. Familiae and Species of the characters in Historia carry with them a diversity even greater than that of our world: physical characteristics vary in the most disparate of ways based on forms, size and traits, but perhaps due to such a variety of individuals forming a collective community (or several), they each recognize each other as sentient peers, possessing a ‘soul’ and mental faculties. Historia’s society may not be just or welcoming, but the rules of discrimination are very much based on social classes rather than Species, as is historically common in the period and context used as inspiration. There are forms of competition and exceptionalism among Familiae and Species (even within the same Familia!), but if mockery and banter are part of the interactions that form the core of the game, there is no such place for racial discrimination. Roleplaying an anthropomorphic animal is first of all a question of roleplaying a three-dimensional character: a person, if you will. Some might take the opportunity to develop the qualities of their chosen Species based on their knowledge of literary or other archetypes, such as Aesop’s choice of animal characterization and their incarnation of distinct human qualities. We recommend, however, playing beyond the stereotypical. Nothing in Historia prevents a muskrat from being a member of the nobility, or a wolf from being part of the common folk: it all comes down to context and story. We encourage players to riff off of and subvert stereotypes, especially as incentive to better develop an engaging narrative. This is already in the core of the skills and traits of Familiae and Species in Historia, which we hope will encourage you added layer of realism (though we cannot claim that Historia reflects or imitates reality) with a stronger use of exhaustion levels. The core element of the game is storytelling, however, so the additional rules are focused on how to enhance this aspect and how to reward the players willing to risk something to bring an exciting, intriguing story to the table. CHAPTER IX - FIELD BATTLES By its own nature, Historia wasn’t conceived to make characters experience epic adventures in which they save the world by using phenomenal cosmic powers, but rather by directing them towards gritty ventures where they will more or less risk their lives, maybe pursuing an ideal, a dream, or a goal as they do so. Reality is hard, complex and cruel, and wider shifts in the political and structural balances are not caused by the actions of a small group of characters (with some rare exceptions) but happen thanks to larger movements and conflicts of power. This chapter is for the attention of characters who have reached such a level of fame and skill that they might be crucial to the balances in a larger armed conflict in which they feature as leader and commanders of entire units, troops or regiments, and not as simple soldiers surrounded by war, whose only aim is to make it back home on their own paws. Field battle rules allow high level characters to maneuver an entire army based on their personal abilities and strategies. CHAPTER X - CHARACTERS OF HISTORIA Nell’ultimo capitolo del manuale vengono presentati i veri protagonisti di Historia: i personaggi che abitano il continente di Vesteria e che lo animano con l’intreccio delle loro storie personali, dando vita al mondo. In questo capitolo si conosceranno i Personaggi Notabili di Historia, ossia coloro le cui ACTIONS smuovono gli equilibri in tutto il continente, ma anche figure più comuni per quanto riguarda la fama eppure comunque potenzialmente interessanti per l’importanza che possono raggiungere le loro storie se unite a quelle dei personaggi dei giocatori. Ognuno di questi personaggi

11 Overview that common traits and unity are valued way more than incompatibilities and what divides them. This quality carries into the aspects of life regarding attraction and affection in Vesteria. As far as procreation is considered, the general rule is that children can only be born from two members of the same Species or of compatible features of the same Familia - this is not the case, for example, in the Edenta Familia, in which the Species are so different in physical characteristics to make hybridization impossible. Some Familiae, on the other hand, do have the right conditions, such as Licai and Canids, who share common ancestors and some physical traits. In any case, when two members of different species breed, their offspring will share traits predominantly with the mother or the father, with only hints of the parent they do not take after - they will not be full hybrids in appearance or qualities. Pups born from parents of different species are not subject to discrimination or drawbacks, unless there is a social reason such as might be the case for nobility - finding themselves with an heir who shares very few of their features compared to their inheritance - which may cause some discontent. In any case, the preservation of family lineage is only a factor where it relates to inherited power and wealth. In a world so vast and varied, where physical differences are so radical, conscience is the one uniting factor, and there is plenty of space for affections and relationships beyond those within the same Species, involving multiple, disparate individuals. That said, there are some areas where inter-Species mixing is looked down upon, and is received with varying degrees of approval in different areas of society. A good example is the Holy Kingdom, where faith is the cornerstone to everyday life, and where detachment from carnal matters is preached in favor of the immutability of Bones. Though relationships not devoted to procreation are thought badly ofreceived, the nobility tend to turn a blind eye on matters of combined marriages, where spouses are united by political and financial reasons and spend their actual personal life with their lovers, of whatever gender or Species they may be. In the more liberal Confederation, the notion of procreation as crux to a relationship is practically non-existent, and it is instead the lower classes who see offspring as a valuable resource, raising them to be looked after in old age and for them to inherit the rewards of a long life of hard work should they choose to eventually leave their family. More in general, there is no real discrimination based on gender in the world of Historia, and aristocratic titles are passed onto the firstborn no matter their gender - with the caveat of being able to change the inheritance in favor of a relative of same blood before they come of age, should the latter be considered a better choice in terms of capability for the clan, family or organization. Another aspect of the complete to think about archetypes without falling into the trap of stereotypes and caricatures: the aim is to bring to life a cruel and savage setting, where the conflict between players’ objectives and the oppressive powers of society is at the center of the game’s narrative, highlighted and amplified by the traits of the animals players will choose. You should feel free to play your character’s traits and qualities, on the narrative level, as as you feel correct, without feeling that you have to adhere to existing models. As in the real world, there is something special in each individual no matter what community, category or family we may belong to, and that may or may not share some of our traits. Though the authorial intentions behind Historia are of full equality, Historia’s society is nowhere near perfect, and there are exemplary cases of specific Species and Familiae experiencing a more privileged position due to their origins. Such an example is the Avian Islands society, based on the food pyramid of birds in the real world; in this case, the strength and lethality of the individuals has shaped the community, creating disparity and rigid social classes based on one’s Familia. It is, however, the political structure of one region alone, and it does not reflect Avian culture in its entirety across Vesteria. Although there is a general sense of social hierarchy among different Avian Familiae, that does not make it mandatory for every member of every Familia to discriminate against members of others. Depending on the characters, on the cultural context, on the tone of your campaign, this aspect can play more or less of a prominent role. There are, of course, some inevitable ‘caste privileges’ which - in the extremely competitive Avian world - can make the difference between social climbing and ostracization for anyone without enough ambition and talent to be ignored, in order to overcome the limitations of their own Familia in the others’ eyes. Another example, this time concerning the Holy Kingdom: the high aristocracy and the more powerful roles within the Church are predominantly covered by the Canid Familia (or Licae) thanks to the discovery of the Ancestors’ first relics, similar in shape and form to those of gargantuan Canids. This has ensured that, as the Church of Bones was being created, Canids have had immediate competitive advantage: the current situation is a result of past times and nothing more than an established tradition. As much as a system based on the worship of the past and strict social rules is reluctant to change in favor of progress, even within the Holy Kingdom there is no systemic discrimination based on species or race. Historia as a game is not founded on building stories upon differences between Familiae and Species, and definitely not on having some oppress or overcome others. The major differences between Historia’s many Species should be considered as what gels the society of its world: there are so many aspects of diversity co-existing in close proximity

12 group discussion, during which no questioning of issues that arise should take place: trust that a player asking for a topic to be avoided has their motivations to do so. Asking for an explanation is not wrong as such, but unless you have a level of intimacy and trust that allows for it, you should just respect that decision. If the players prefer to put together a list, each writes down what topics they’d rather avoid and the GM will compile them into an anonymous document. Again, there is no need to discuss or question the choices of topics to avoid. If during a game someone accidentally heads towards one of said topics or if a part of the story is still making you uncomfortable, there are various ways to end the scene and skip to the next, or even reversing some actions and let the scene play out differently. There is no need to discuss or question the change: the group will carry on with the new scene, with the GM’s guidance. Along with the wellbeing of the group, another point to consider when setting your boundaries is the location where you will be playing. It doesn’t matter whether the game happens in the comfort of your house or at a public event, with younger people, or other factors that may add to the players’ preferences - it all needs to be taken into account when setting any eventual boundaries. Generally speaking, you must always aim to play in such a way that everyone involved is comfortable doing so. A final suggestion: the best way to start a campaign with Historia is to arrange a session zero, in which the GM can present a ‘Declaration of Intent’ to the players, in order to align the group’s expectations and discuss possible developments for the game. To find out more about the ‘Declaration of Intent’, please visit our DrivethruRPG store and download our “RPG’s and the Declaration of Intents” for free. acceptance of the diversity of Vesteria, and a legacy of its widespread, bloody conflicts, is the practice of adoption, extremely common especially among lower and middle classes, where finding a good heir no matter their Species is crucial. Orphans are not a rare occurrence in this world, and though adoptions into families or institutions are common, they are found in many populated areas of the harsh continent of Vesteria. NARRATIVE BOUNDARIES AND DECLARATION OF INTENT Historia is structured as a game that explores potentially sensitive topics: Vesteria sees war, poverty, exploitation, intrigue, violence, murder, betrayals and injustice on a daily basis, and they form the skeleton of the game’s dark Renaissance setting, meaning a character may fall to any of them without a hero’s death or valiant actions. It is still possible to delve deeper into these topics and face them with the awareness that they may become the main subject matter when you choose to set up your game. Before creating your character, you should discuss with the GM what you expect to see and get out of the game, and what you’d rather avoid. The tone of the game should be reached as a consensus, which means full transparency about which narrative elements can cause discomfort to any of the players, so that the group may move away, gloss over, or simply avoid them to make the experience fun for everyone. The first step is for the GM to ask the players whether they want to have a conversation about potentially out of bounds situations or scenes, or whether they would prefer to put together a list of them or make use of a warning system (such as an X-card, for example), so that the GM may skip a scene containing those elements during a game. If the players agree, it can be a

13 Overview animal-based goods is accompanied by plant-based alternatives and supported through a specific tradition of the world of Historia: the worship of the Church of Bones and the belief that the mortal flesh that ties us to this existence is an anchor for the Bones and spirit, meaning that at the time of death it is common to donate one’s pelt, fur and skins to the tanners, who work it into clothing and leather. The idea that there is no remaining connection to the flesh after death is so culturally widespread that no one bats an eyelid at using materials obtained through such a morbid - to us - process. This scenario, then, explores the connections between social aspects of anthropomorphic animals and the stories of single characters trying to achieve their goals in the complex socio-political framework of Historia. THE MACABRE COEXISTENCE This final scenario we suggest includes further details for those players who want to delve even deeper into the relationship between prey and predator species, as well as those between sentient and non-sentient animals. Indeed, this scenario sees both living side by side: animals are farmed, used for materials, hunted and tamed for sport and more. This creates an obvious cultural tension where wild animals are also used as symbols of power and aggression: a Felid walking a dog on a leash will inevitably draw the displeasure of Canids and Licai, while some Ruminsi might not agree with those who farm and butcher bovines for meat and leather. Nonetheless, these tensions should be considered in the same way that humans see their closest primate kin, in the varying degrees that our own world offers, depending on sensibilities and beliefs. A consequence of this scenario is that predation between sentient Species acquires a new meaning: the social contract still sees the gesture as horrifying as cannibalism is to us, but relationships between prey and predator species may be more tense, given the resemblance of the former to the content of the latter’s meals. The scenario also adds an extra layer with labor animals, exchanging the hand-drawn carts of the other two scenarios for animal-drawn power. The Animal Handling skill is not handed over by any particular privilege in Historia and is only used if players and GM consider it necessary for the application of the scenario. GM and players should agree in advance on which scenario to apply, or whether to weave parts of different ones together, depending on what themes they wish to explore in their setting of Historia. HISTORIA’S SCENARIOS Historia’s society of evolved and self-aware anthropomorphic animals leaves open a number of questions about the darker goings-on of a cruel, relentless society in which predators and prey coexist. To meet an audience’s different sensibilities, below are three suggestions of guidelines to manage the tension between prey, predators, and the presence of animals which are not anthropomorphized within the wider game setting. THE CRUEL FABLE The continent of Vesteria is a dark place in and of itself, in which social inequality is strongly felt and where characters will become involved in evil machinations and dangerous adventures. In this first scenario, the GM and players will focus on the aspects of storytelling concerning the characters rather than the wider framework of them being anthropomorphic animals, effectively running a scenario much like the 1973 Disney animated feature Robin Hood, though a little darker. There will, therefore, be no difference between predator and prey, no one will concern themselves with what appears on their table or who provided the leather for their boots, and the fact that animals exist on differing scales of evolution will not be touched upon: the focus of the narrative will be the actions of the players as they navigate a hostile world. THE EVOLVED SOCIETY This scenario introduces elements looking farther into how society evolved and how aspects such as food sourcing, leather tanning, and prey-predator relations might work. The process that brought animals to evolve sentience has affected only land mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, here listed as theri, avians, sauri, and lissames, but not fish or insects, which make up the majority of farming, with vast fields of larvae and a significant fishing industry. Carnivores and omnivores subsist on these resources, but herbivores may also include some insects as sides to their vegetable, fruit, or root dishes: after all, the anthropomorphization process has brought all types of animals closer to each other, setting them on a common path of shared traits and forms. There is but a trace of any primordial instinct, now shaped into more ‘human’ and rational characteristics: a predator might have a more aggressive and competitive disposition, maybe showing in their fighting style, but will never have to resist the urge to devour a traditionally ‘prey’ companion. Any act involving feeding of sentient Species is considered on par with cannibalism in our world. The production of

Chapter Two - Vesteria he second chapter in the manual delves into the complex and fascinating world of Historia, exploring the geography, politics and society of Vesteria, the western continent where most of the game’s stories takes place. Vesteria is partially inspired by Renaissance Europe, especially the central and southern countries’ social tapestry of political intrigue and struggles; unlike Europe however, Vesteria is populated with anthropomorphic animals and magic is real. It is divided into a number of regions: the Holy Kingdom, a military theocracy based on the worship and belief in the sacred nature of Bones; the Green Pit, a savage, untamed land with no real political structure and large city-mines constantly targeted for their resources; and the Confederation of Free Cities, a union of autonomous city-states in constant but mostly amicable rivalry, in which wealth and culture are both equal pretenders to the throne.

16 he cry of the lookout, up from the crow’s nest, leads the entire crew to turn towards east: Land ahoy! Soon the horizon will reveal the white spear of the towering lighthouse of Nova Marina and the forest of masts of all sizes moored in its port, the shining pearl at the center of the Bay of Lisandra. Its crowded dive bars and busy crossroads play host to the tales of marvel of sailors returning from faraway lands and to rumors and whispers alike, sold at higher costs even than spices throughout the Confederation. Nochemburg resounds with the sacred hymns of the Thirteen Ribs procession, beneath the stone vaults of the Temple of Bones, and outside its doors the cries of the Mortifieds resume, as they begin the song of their whips. The Avian Islands’ song is brought by the wind, filling the ears of those who fly, lifting their wings; be they a formation of Geese or a solitary barn Owl carrying in its talons a message that cannot wait till dawn. In the Green Pit the loose tongues of Salso Nero charlatans mix freely with the lewd shanties of mercenaries marching and the rhythmic footsteps of miners, falling regularly under the watchful eye and burning lashes of their supervisor. In the Ossarium, however, the only sound is the solemn silence of its secrets, perhaps not meant to last, as it shrouds the array of millenary skeletons at rest. Vesteria

17 Vesteria These and many more are the voices of Vesteria, voices awaiting those of players around the table, ready to start their own adventure in a land of a thousand opportunities. Vesteria is a diverse, varied continent: from the cities populated by daily intrigue and where political balance may rest on the actions of a single individual, to savage lands where survival itself is a challenge, every kind of story, every theme and every gaming style can find its ideal setting. The nations presented within provide GMs and players a landscape filled with stories and histories, as Vesteria has already been through centuries of development before reaching the shape it currently inhabits - and there is no sign of it slowing down now. New discoveries, ancient mysteries, characters whose fame (or infamy) has spread across the lands are both framework and core of the most disparate of adventures: be that societal struggle, power grabs, personal conflicts, or noble deeds. Life on Vesteria is not easy, and rarely do its shades of gray allow for a clear sense of right and wrong, of justice and injustice, of cowards and heroes. But in a world where caution warns you to watch your back even from the least threat, everything is possible - and that includes finding loyal allies and purity of heart in places you would least expect. The land described in this manual is a peninsula which hosts, from east to west, four nations: • the CONFEDERATION, a union of city-states as wealthy as it is prey to corruption and the whims of the powerful; • the GREEN PIT, a land where the untamed nature of its geography and its people has resisted all external influences; • the HOLY KINGDOM, an uncompromising monolith, much like its religion, and equally resistant to change; • the AVIAN ISLANDS, a traditionalist, caste-based kingdom, which also houses some of the brightest and most subversive minds of this age. Beyond the eastern border of Vesteria, the maps speak of the Far Lands, of the White Desert, of the Khan’s Empire, the Republic of Calìda, of Rodelia, of the Kjaldorn Islands, of many other places even more mysterious and fascinating the farther away you move from the Known Sea. We will soon have more concrete news of these countries, but for the time being, the Western continent will be the one described in detail.

18

19 Vesteria

20 and the sole desert worthy of this name in all of Western Vesteria: a rocky plateau from which several rivers spring, though none cross its plains. The city of Gratigna happily shows it its back, choosing instead to look over the vineyards watered by one of the Bastion’s tributaries, but no city dares to occupy any space in Barrenland, making it the only uninhabited area of the Confederation. Even the Marna marshlands around lake Lembrosa house more souls than the Barrenland plateau: indeed, the swamps see cultures and farms of shellfish and crustaceans, fresh and saltwater alike, and considered the best in the region. There are no isles in the sea that embraces the Confederation, and the only such territory that the latter claims for itself is the small Hermit Island, rising from the waters of Lake Stilla. The largest body of freshwater in the land, the lake eventually joins the sea in Solina Bay - whose name’s origin is still unknown, as it hosts both saline flats and, being the southernmost bay of the land, could be considered “home of the sun. Despite Nova Marina claiming the title of owning the most powerful naval fleet of the known world, here is where the Confederation’s ships are moored: the fortified city of Albea keeps watch, from its post atop the Lance peninsula from where even Salso Nero can be seen, beyond the sea. POLITICS The Confederation is an exception in Vesteria’s political landscape for many a reason. It is a union of multiple citystates, first above all its founding cities of Wind Town, Nova Marina, and Montetorto. While still keeping their individual identities and power over the lands they historically held, they set up a coalition to allow easier trading between themselves and the markets outside their usual remit, to strengthen their position against united and powerful nation states such as the Holy Kingdom, and to settle and de-escalate often tense rivalries between cities and favor the growth of the entire region, not always an easy task with notoriously bickering neighbors. Though it does not boast an actual capital (the three founders claim their excellence in different fields, and the mere idea of elevating any one city makes the other two raise their hackles with disgust), it does have a de facto leader in the post of Confederate High Governor, elected on a four year basis by the Confederate Parliament from among its members (at the end of a High Governor’s remit, they may be re-elected, but for no more than two mandates). The position, one more of representation than executive, confers GEOGRAPHY The land within the current boundaries of the Confederation is one of the most diverse in all Vesteria. The coastal perimeter, which forms its northern, western and southern borders, is rich with natural harbors and ports, which undoubtedly favored the tendency of the local populations to travel by sea. The plains found between Wind Town and Nova Marina are fertile, abundant with water and protected by the Castri, the northern mountain range shielding them from the incessant winds from the north. The Berga plain, on the other hand, is constantly exposed to those winds, and is the only region in the area which sees a stark climate all year round, with long winters and short, mild summers. From the Valgroppa estuary and even more so farther south, springtime comes early, summers are sun-ridden, and fall harvests are plentiful. Farming and its associated trade are the cornerstone of the federal economy, and even though some of the southern duchies of the Holy Kingdom attempt to compete, the oil made in the hills of the Celso and the wines of Gratigna are the best in Vesteria. The rivers that run through the Confederation are, for the most part, easily accessible by boat from halfway their length to the sea. The only notable exceptions are the rivers commonly referred to as the Comb’s Teeth, that is to say the Rio Claro, the Rivazzo, and the Valerano, which run from the heart of the Castri in the west to the Gulf of the Pit to the east, crossing the Morderana forest. Despite being unwelcoming to any type of vessel, these rivers are vital to the history of the Confederation’s shipyards: the enormous white pines of Morderana would be carried by their rough waters down to the valley, where they would become the masts of frigates, corvettes, and galleons. Such was, and still is, the importance of this logging region that the title of Marshal of the Morderana is one of the most sought after and respected, and only bestowed upon the most loyal of Confederation individuals. Diametrically opposite to the Teeth is the Bastion, which, despite its war-like name (due to its previous existence as a natural border between two warring powers) is a placid, wide fishing river. Its delta, guarded to the north by Liveccia and to the south by Nova Marina, was once unhealthy marshlands: its reclamation is considered one of the largest public enterprises of the federal government, directly after the latter was formed. An area, instead, which may have benefited from inheriting some of its waters is Barrenland, the vast expanse to the south of the Castri, The Confederation

21 The Confederation

22 various landowners; Albea is guided by its Superintendent, an admiral of the Confederation’s naval fleet. The number and variety of hierarchies and roles in the Confederation, including its Parliament (based in Nova Marina) and local government, means that citizens of all backgrounds can feasibly achieve a political position. Corruption, of course, is not unusual, ambition tends to be cut-throat worthy, and plots are a daily occurrence. The economy is a happy blend of farming (cereals, beans, fruit, vegetables are all grown with great results in most plains, and the already mentioned vineyards and olive tree plantations are an international point of pride), artisan production, and trade, with a heavy balance on the latter. The powerful navy of the Confederation excels not solely in its military incarnation, but even more so in its commercial fleet: vessels of all sizes and make sail the Great Waters incessantly, shipping impressive quantities of cargo and creating an equally impressive profit. Additionally, the Confederation is famed for its marketplace of ideas and innovation: the Montetorto Academy, vanguard of alchemical research, and the Schola Ducale of Wind Town, where engineering is taught like nowhere else in the world, are both sources of incredible prestige and noticeable profit. CULTURE AND TRADITIONS The Confederation is, by its own nature, a plurality, making it a dynamic country of cultural miscegenation. The large cities are a forge of peoples, travel is commonly undertaken, and only the most rural dwellers, the least wealthy, and those forced by their position, have not visited at least one of the major urban centers. Though as is often the case for birds of a feather do flock into small communities of shared kin, the Confederation is cosmopolitan: Theri are prevalent, with most races represented; many Avians, though far from their native islands, have settled on the coast and integrated well. The busier ports even see the likes of Saurs and Lissames, on their way from distant lands for business or political envoys. The population rarely discriminates against the other, but is rather fascinated by new, exotic visitors - they do, on the other hand, hold internal grudges with impressive dedication: city rivalries are deeply rooted and seemingly unsolvable, becoming the rule between towns, and inevitable between villages. Nova Marina and Liveccia have been enemies since before the unification, and blood from both cities has been spilled innumerable times into the waters of the Bastion. Gratigna and Celside are rivals for their respective farming excellence, and hold their own traditions in high esteem; the former proud of its secular Princedom and its theatrical arts, the latter of the modernity of its Governor and musical Conservatory. Nova Marina and Albea have long fought on the seas, in the past by pitting ships and crews against each other, now by claiming excellence in upon its holder the overseeing of Parliament and the final check for the deciding and legislative powers, along with being the face of the Confederation in foreign negotiations. Those who hold actual power in Parliament are the regents of each city: the already mentioned Nova Marina, Wind Town and Montetorto, historic rivals Liveccia and Albea, and the smaller Berga, Celside, and Gratigna. The role of regent is held by the ‘leader’ of each city, be they a Mayor, a Superintendent, a Governor, a Podestà or other title; said leader is accompanied by a cadre of representatives proportionate to the population of their city, for a total of one hundred Parliament seats. Each city democratically elects its own representatives, and the right to vote is accorded to all citizens of age (which varies depending on species) who pay regular taxes. Within the autonomy of their jurisdiction, each city holds its traditional government structure: Nova Marina and Liveccia, ancient rivals which only the Confederation could unite - on the surface at least - are led by a Mayor, as is Montetorto; Wind Town has always had its Dukes; Berga has a Mayor ruling along a council of notables; Gratigna boasts a Prince and would never yield its noble affectation; Celside chooses its Governor among its

23 The Confederation cloths, bespoke clothing, and accessories to flaunt their status. Even those of more humble means take care of how they present themselves, especially in the cities, and one will find a widespread tendency to judge books by their covers. Love for these ostentatious ways reaches its most ridiculous peaks among the nobles and the nouveaux riches of the upper middle class. Alongside many other such whims, the ‘garden hermit’ is definitely one of the most bizarre: people paid to live in a hut or cave in the gardens of patrician villas, spending time by musing about philosophy with guests and on special occasions. What’s more, the wealthier families especially in rural areas are accustomed to taking their meals as late as possible: where the farmer must live by the rhythms of the sun and their work, the rich can afford to live by those of luxury and comfort. RELIGION As with many of its other facets, the Confederation holds no singular approach to spiritual belief. The most common organized religion, much as with other areas of Vesteria, is the Church of Bones, though the levels of involvement and observation vary: there are only small congregations in the temples of Berga, for example, where the Church holds little sway. Albea, on the other hand, sees it deeply connected to every aspect of its life, and celebrations for holy days are well attended by crowds of faithful from all around; what we must note is that the ‘version’ of the doctrine professed is not that of the Keeper of the Bones in Nochemburg, but rather the Indicant Heresy, known there as the Humble Way. It is an interpretation of the Church of Bones derived from the ideas of the Indicants, a sect in open contrast with the seat of Nochemburg, aiming to reduce everything quite literally to the bone: they preach poverty, a clear separation between Church and State, humility and the belief that ‘be the flesh gourd or taut, be the skins candid or pocked, be the cloth luxurious or tattered, it matters not. Beneath all these, all Bones are gifted the same worth.’ In the bigger cities, the situation is less polarized, and despite the Church of Bones being the ‘official’ religion, the Heresy in particular (indeed, its liturgical calendar is followed for some of the secular festivities and closures), it is not the sole practiced belief: in Nova Marina especially, connected to all major ports of the known world, the reader will come across many a procession or sacred building of foreign faiths, not usually well known yet still tolerated, if suspiciously. The sole exception is Montetorto, famed for its distaste towards all religions, not to everyone’s liking. To many, it is due to the Academy, a centenary source of miracles that have nothing to do with the divine, but rather the minds and ingenuity of mortals and their affinity to arcane studies. This exception aside, devotion and practice are never seen to the extreme, ship construction. There is no real competition for the latter: Nova Marina has the best merchant fleet, while Albea excels in its military vessels. The Confederations’ citizens, then, are indeed fiercely proud and competitive, but there is a silver lining: the entrepreneurial spirit that marks them is a direct result of these qualities, and one of the core reasons behind the region’s growth, along with the distinctively high level of education, even in the more rural areas. It is rare for a pup born within federal borders not to attend school, be it with the prestigious Wind Town academies, the public schools present in all urban centers, with private tutors, or simply taught by their parents through homeschooling. There is almost no illiteracy, and those who cannot read or write are looked down upon and considered small-minded and ignorant, an easy prey for unsavory practices, and with no future prospects beyond manual labor or dock work. Average living standards are relatively higher compared to other nations: if the more wealthy cover a spectrum from extreme decadence to false modesty, the lower classes are rarely destined to suffer from hunger and poverty, as dignified labor is available to all, allowing for modest but dignified livelihoods. Though labor itself is highly regarded across the Confederation, it is not the more noble arts that have the most acolytes. Organized crime in particular is spread widely, feared, and seen as almost impossible to eradicate. It is considered an unfortunate side effect of welfare, and the resources employed to fight it only truly increase when it touches upon the financial interests of the higher echelons of society. What’s more, although ‘the oldest profession’ refers to a very specific occupation in any other part of Vesteria, the Confederation is yet undecided as to whether it means the spy or the bard, though many by now agree that the two easily coincide. Indeed, where the former find their job cut out for them among the ever-warring spice merchants and political grand games, the latter could not ask for a better stage. The arts have fertile ground in the Confederation, and only in the Avian Islands is singing held in higher esteem and more commonly found across the daily lives of laypeople. It is very rare indeed to not hear the notes of a hired minstrel accompany the chatter of a busy tavern, and a noble family’s court without an officially appointed bard immediately loses some of its prestige. Visual arts are awarded with respect and admiration only at the peak of their craft, and are otherwise considered on par with other crafts and handiwork, while literature is perhaps the youngest sibling of the arts family: many do read, fewer write outside of functional reasons, and even fewer still do so with actual success. Clothing and personal appearance more in general are cared for by all individuals, regardless of their background, and nowhere else will the reader find people ready to spend high sums for high-end

24 plateau. It is no exaggeration to call Wind Town the most technologically advanced center of the known world, where innovation is tangible even in the smallest detail: the most sophisticated locks are created here (along with the best ways to pick them, of course), civil engineering machinery is planned and built to easily replace thirty laborers, and running water reaches the homes of its citizens from the Bastion’s springs through the large aqueduct. The excellence on display is a result of the generous patronage from local aristocracy towards artists, inventors, and thinkers, out of an irresistible vested interest in personal returns in terms of prestige (a good example is Lorenzo Pavardei, who in recent years has begun offering funds to an individual who promises to be the most sparkling genius that Wind Town has ever seen), combined with the Schola Ducale. The latter is an institute famed for the past two centuries for tutoring brilliant young minds - once they have succeeded through its strict selective process - in all arts and sciences, providing local workshops and businesses with a constant stream of apprentices whose skills already rival those of their teachers, with the notable exception of the Rodelian masters. There was a time when the Confederation was home to many a language, each brought by different peoples crossing its natural borders of the Castri, of the Morderana woods, of Barrenland. Wind Town is the historical witness to this linguistic plurality, and proof can be found in its local family names and their distinctive lack of commonality with any others in the country and in its marked difference with the vast majority of speakers in the country (especially be it fanatical followers or its opponents, anywhere in the country. Spirituality more in general is practiced in a more simple way outside of the larger urban centers, especially by farming communities, where worshiping ancestors is the most popular practice derived from the Church of Bones. In many a Confederation citizen’s abode, it is not uncommon to find a small space, often a niche or small closet, dedicated to the worship of the bones - traditionally the first vertebra, considered the body’s keystone - of one’s ancestors. Many will light a candle for each worshiped ancestor, others a single candle to be placed by the ancestor they are praying to specifically. For many, the prospect of these shrines being destroyed or damaged is horrifying, and in the case of disasters, natural or otherwise, the ‘dynasty bones’ will be saved long before any valuable belonging. WIND TOWN Wind Town, on its perennially windswept plateau, is a very special place. A gem set among the Castri summits - whose proud cliffs gradually decline into a barren quarry, only to find a new green cover as they reach the Valgroppa waters to the north and the Bastion’s springs to the east - and the Heartwoods. Approaching the city walls from the Liveccia road is said by many to be the best way to take in its full spectacle. Anyone exiting the Heartwoods will find themselves faced with a forest of a different nature: the country road is scattered with windmills, whose giant blades are constantly kept in motion by the wind, and one walks in their shadow until the city itself, slowly ascending to the THE INDICANT HERESY It is worth giving some additional context to what, today, is considered the sole heresy or reform - depending on who one might ask - of the Church of Bones. Fringes such as this one rarely survive the Inquisition, and the peculiarity of this variation of the doctrine is not its ideological teachings but rather the way in which its followers have fought tooth and claw for its preservation. Index IV (see POLITICS in Holy Kingdom) has been one of the few elected Keepers in Nochemburg not hailing from the Partenopio family. Feeling perhaps on the outskirts of the political games involving the Church, he foolishly attempted to put forward a clear separation of religious and secular powers. He spoke of a Church stripped of all excess, in which the clergy would tend to the souls of its faithful and the connection to the Ancestors - not lands, armies, and wealth. He dared accuse many Occipites of the Kingdom of having reduced themselves to nothing more than greedy and opportunistic aristocrats, ignorant of the Canon’s teachings and caring only for the silks of their clothing. A community of young clergy formed around him, finding strength in his beliefs, and within a few years their teachings made their way outside of the Kingdom, attracting new followers. Index IV saw an abrupt end to his life and reign, but his heretical teachings lived on: they found roots especially in the unkempt forests of the Green Pit, in the wealthy Confederation, reaching the latter via twenty-two Tarsi and Costolari fleeing persecution. The dissidents’ congregation has seen many names since: initially known as the Indicants, followers started calling it the Humble Way. Whereas to its opponents, it will always be the Pug’s Heresy, as it is nothing more than a deformed, belittled, harmless version of the ‘true’ Church of Bones.

25 The Confederation The commercial port is the most florid of the known world, and many move here to find their fortune, strong in the belief that in Nova Marina, it is not merely a dream. Actual trade is governed by a Guild system, each extremely jealous of their own remit and privileges, leading to the high level of selectivity in the admission process; Guild affiliation has become a highly-sought ambition for all who wish for transparent success in their field. The Guilds have made their respect of all laws and bylaws their true pride, especially due to Nova Marina’s not so immaculate past on the matter: rumors tell of the textile and spice industry barons whose family wealth is rooted in slavery, when such barbaric practice was still enacted (long before the founding of the Confederation). To this day, Nova Marina maintains the unfortunate claim to the most crime-ridden city, if the least bloody, in which forgers have reached new peaks thought unattainable anywhere else: the tale of Don Rodrigo Valenti, mayor to the city, paying a small fortune for The Dying Swan - one the masterpieces by Saskia Hansen, renowned Wind Town painter - is not too far removed from our times. An unfortunate remark by one of his staff (later fired) seeded the doubt in Don Rodrigo’s mind of the painting being a reproduction: an in-depth investigation proved the suspicion correct, revealing the portrait to be a copy by Leandro Ortega, one of the best forgers ever seen the South); the dialect is harsh in sound and unique in vocabulary, closer to a language variety than a variation. Even those who master the common tongue of Vesteria have a distinguishable accent, and the ‘Ventana twang’ is often mimicked and mocked on thespian stages, with results considered excellent and hilarious by audiences and abysmal by the locals. NOVA MARINA Nova Marina is not the kind of city which saw its wealth derive from an abundance of natural resources in the area or the coffers of an aristocratic family settling within its walls. The sole resources that never saw paucity in Nova Marina have been the ambition of its citizens (it is no coincidence that some of the greatest explorers and entrepreneurs of the land are from this fine city) and the waters of its docks: this is a city which has built its fortune, century after century, on the backs of an indefatigable middle class, always primed for a risky investment - investments which have borne fruit many years ago, for everyone involved, in the shape of its ships, whose famed cerulean and crimson banners are welcome guests in all of Vesteria. The city’s shipyards have no equal, and the saying ‘pine tree at dawn, corvette at dusk’ refers to the attested speed with which the Nova Marina arsenal is capable of building any nautical vessel.

26 any tangible proof of construction for the Academy Tower, other than even the oldest written document talking of the structure as having been present for a long time at the time of writing. The reasons behind its location, an inhospitable land in one of the least wealthy areas of the region, are still a mystery. What is known is that it has always been the center of arcane knowledge: initially hosting the Conclave of the Mage Order, gradually becoming the Arcane College and eventually the Academy. Alchemy has recently replaced arcane practice (after an unfortunate episode which forced the Mages to radically change the way in which their knowledge is passed on), and Montetorto’s fame for excellence has lived up to its name once more, refining its alchemical studies in a short time and rising to first choice for anyone wishing to study this mysterious new field. Most of the city exists in relation to the Academy: merchants deal almost exclusively in materials and wares useful to teachers and students, inns and taverns abound, and the Public Library of Montetorto is perhaps the sole building - other than the Tower itself, of course - worth a visit for an outsider. in the city. Don Rodrigo ordered his arrest, personally dealt the corporeal punishment (and added insults), then commissioned him an official portrait of his beloved niece for another small fortune. Leandro Ortega is still exclusively employed by the mayor of Nova Marina, and there is no evidence as to whether he is still involved in illegal activities. MONTETORTO Montetorto appears among the founding cities of the Confederation not because of its size (Liveccia and Albea alone are much larger), its wealth (no one can honestly beat Nova Marina) or its dynamism (record belonging undoubtedly to Wind Town). It is not particularly visually appealing: its dark stone buildings gather like a gaggle of scared chicks around the Academy Tower, there are very few gardens carved out of its web of streets, and even fewer sites worthy of note. Montetorto, however, does not suffer from these absences, because it does not care about their presence: Montetorto cares about power, especially the one derived from vast amounts of knowledge. We do not currently hold

27 The Holy Kingdom on the other hand, has a less positive story, as it has been the stage for at least a century of pillaging and destruction from the Kaldjord Island raiders every spring. Lovemberg, the city governing over the poorest duchy in the country, became the sole line of defense against the threat of a true invasion; the date of the final battle in the conflict is still celebrated to this day as the only non-religious holiday in the Holy Kingdom’s calendar. The climate of the surrounding region, considered the least pleasant in the whole Kingdom (the infamous saying goes that Lovemberg has but two seasons: one of snow, and one of rain), is enough to suggest how much worse it must have been for the raiders’ homelands. The northern coast, however, is but an exception to the Kingdom’s climate: south of the Rottvasser, it becomes to all effects continental, with cold winters and hot summers, which paired with plentiful bodies of water means that though famines are not unknown, they are also extremely infrequent. The Clivi between Fort Lacustre, Nochemburg and Fort Terrière are a small Eden, and all of the local aristocracy owns at least one second home in the region. The entire western area is densely forested, at times impossible to travel; part of the Neuwald (literally ‘New Forest’) is artificial and maintained by the duchess of Spitzpinscher, heir to her mother’s high-end wood trade which raised the family to their current status. Spitzpinscher is but one of the twelve Duchies which make up the Holy Kingdom; the other eleven are, in no particular order: Lovemberg, San Mastino, Gardeciel, Doberland, Lakeland, Boule-Dogue, Boule-Terrière, Nochenland, Dachsenland, Grunewald, and Vesterre. POLITICS This may come across as a surprise, but the Holy Kingdom is not, in fact, a kingdom. Its last king, now almost two centuries ago, made the incautious decision to challenge too overtly the influence of the Keeper of the Bones in Nochemburg and the Church as an institution, and within a few years, all branches of the royal family tree mysteriously came to an end. In the troubles that followed the power vacuum, the Holy Kingdom experienced a bloody civil war, during which the then eighteen Duchies fought to establish control and draw new maps, eventually ending with the current twelve-fold division. The power of the victorious Dukes proved so strong that the most prominent of them, Alexander de Goff, was nominated Archduke and placed upon the Nochemburg throne - effectively with the same power as the deposed royalty. What Archduke Alexander had not accounted for was the influence of the Church and its GEOGRAPHY From a purely theoretical perspective, the lands within the borders of the Holy Kingdom should hold all the cards to qualify as the wealthiest place in the world, if only they were not being haphazardly effected and technologically lagging. For the most part a series of plains, or rolling hills in the case of the Clivi region, between Fort Lacustre and Nochemburg, the sole mountainous range in the area marks the country’s northeastern border. The Maws are so called due to the resemblance with a gargantuan mouth closing around the Lengua Valley. San Mastino and Gardeciel (once called Himmelgard, before the conquest by south-eastern peoples of the lands north of the Maws and the Gran Canino changed many of the region’s names) house among their perennial snow capped peaks some of the highest summits of Vesteria, with Ivoria and its glaciers reaching well over 13 thousand feet. The impressive mountain range is also the birthplace of many of the Kingdom’s major bodies of water: the already mentioned Lengua, the Rottvasser, the Superior Nevia and the Boule, the river with the longest navigable distance. This distinction is notable as the longest river per se is the Nevia, despite no one actually having its full measurements as it leaves the valley from whence it springs, crosses the Clivi (touching the lands known as Biancofiore, for their vast expanses of apple orchards, and home of the most beloved cider in the world) and eventually reaches Fort Lacustre, where it flows into the large swamp very generously called Lakeland. After sharing its waters with the Lakes Mira, Grune, Silva and Blaugarten, it seems to disappear: in fact, the riverbed burrows into the ground and runs farther south, on a route not yet fully discovered, only to emerge again into Lake Noch, after which Nochemburg, the Kingdom’s capital and largest city of the known world, is named. The tributary which flows lazy through the southern countryside, belonging to the duchies of Spitzpinscher and Dachsenland, is therefore named Inferior Nevia, and finds its estuary in the Neuwald Gulf. The Holy Kingdom could never claim to be a naval power by any possible interpretation; nonetheless, the sea has always played a crucial part in its history. The eastern coast overlooks the Known Sea, and it was here (more specifically in the city of Vesterre, today the biggest port in the Kingdom) that the first contact between Avians and the inhabitants of what claims to be the oldest of the twelve Duchies took place, starting commercial and trade relations and alliances, and with them, a flow of conversations and cultural cross-pollination. The northern coast, The Holy Kingdom

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29 The Holy Kingdom to the Keeper) to that of the Dukes, allowing the Church to form and maintain its own permanent armed force, and, most of all, the transformation of several sacred scripture precepts into actual, enforceable law. The first threat to this new order came not long after, with the reforming ambitions of Index IV, who attempted in vain to separate secular and spiritual power, as he considered the latter the sole proper Kingdom over which religion must rule. It is almost not worth reminding the reader that Index IV ruled over the Temple of Nochemburg for a total of seven years, after which he was poisoned. The most recent insurrection against the Church of Bones’ absolute power took the form of the Conspiracy of the Seven, known more colloquially as the Conspiracy, which saw involved some of the highest powers (all heirs to several other aristocratic families) during the civil war itself. Within the following fifty years, partly due to its leverage with the aristocracy’s loyalty to the Bone Cross, partly because of the devotion of the general population (who still saw the Church as the sole stable institution in the whole Kingdom), and partly due to the notable economic power it held, the Church of Bones effectively permeated all levels of political hierarchies of the nation. This takeover culminated with the San Mastino Edict, whose decrees guaranteed the influence of the Church to the extent that the Keeper of the Bones had become the new de facto leader of the Kingdom: the most notable decrees included the equivalence of the power of the Occipites (the highest title in the clergy, second only BURIAL RITES From the letters of Guidobaldo from Celside, addressed to his sister Leonora: “My dear Leonora, Do forgive how these messages of mine, which I do write after the woes of this journey, are filled with mine afflictions, as I desire nothing more than to return to Celso and the sublime tedium of the ledgers. Post Alphonso’s deadly encounter with that armadillo brigand, the hours which may bring respite have been a rare occurrence indeed. Ne’ertheless, I finally can recount an anecdote which may bring thou mirth in reading, and relief to I in writing such a chronicle, as I well know of thine interest in the ways of the Peoples of the Orient and am oft reminded of such. Now Alphonso, being a faithful hound, insisted in his final breaths that we might bury his mortal remains according to the dogma of his native Nochenland; hence we sought out a priest who might know of such things, and I, a humble godless person such I am, found myself surprised in seeing a crowd of haunting figures come to take the remains of poor Alphonso. I was told these are called Bonepickers, as their task is to remove the skin and the flesh from all bones of the deceased, by means of such tools and rites as the Church doth teach. It was mine discovery that flesh and coil mean nought to the faithful of the Bones once the spirit passes on, and but the white matter of bones is deserving of rest, and of rites, and of songs. The skin must be taken all at once, so it may be given unto the leatherworkers to be made into leather, and for each race of the deceased different uses are prescribed. I hath not the courage to inquire as to the purpose of the flesh. The bones of Alphonso swiftly were reverted to the same candid hue as our very own family orchards, Leonora, and in such order, covered by a white cloth that may shelter them from the harsh sun and inclement rains, during the voyage to the tomb. The priest, whom other faithful I am told doth call Tarsus, hath told me how in their homelands the wealthy arrange for gems to be set into their bones, so that they may be shown in temples. Alas Alphonso hath been but a guide for visitors such as we, hence his resting place shall be a humble grave in an ungrateful soil. He, the priest, then did recount in simple yet honest words the life of our good hound, blessed with scented balms each bone, and offered song alone, for we hath not the words nor the faith. Ne’ertheless he called upon us all to assist in the laying of the dear remains, well arranged in a humble grave he proceeded to seal with wax and string, and together we proffered our farewells, such that never I did give e’en when cousin Alisandra did pass (occasion I still recall with clarity as she ne’er did return that loan of which we hath spoken). We paid our dues to the priest by means of bread and good oils, and he did bless us all with the Fortitude of Will of the Father so that we might venture forth without misfortune befalling us once again. I will swiftly be able to confirm such blessing to be true, sister mine, as mine light hath grown low and I must end, lest I write upon mine sleeves. Fare thee well, thy loyal brother, Guidobaldo”

30 comprised of the Dukes or their delegate, but several Duchies are currently represented by their Occipites (more often than not the first born of the most prominent nobility, highlighting where the power actually lies), who steer the Kingdom’s governance towards a more advantageous future for the Church. CULTURE AND TRADITIONS The Holy Kingdom is neither cosmopolitan nor loving of innovation: its population is predominantly Canid (other Theri are present, of course, much less so in number), with Avians a distant second along the southern coast, meaning they are traditionally suspicious of what they do not know. As the reader might infer, the cultural aspects of the Holy Kingdom are significantly influenced by religion in ways unlike anywhere else in Vesteria. Innumerable facets of daily life, be it for farmers living in poverty in Dachsenland, the aristocrats of San Mastino, or even the Keeper of the Bones himself, are heavily ritualized, and everything is run according to traditions so old that they appear untouchable. A perfect example is seen in how any merchant or tradesperson will never end a deal without saying ‘the right price to me, and to santingrid the rest’. ‘Santingrid’ is no arcane mystery, but rather a corruption of the name of Saint Ingrid of Lovemberg, a humble merchant who despite her meager income and wealth, donated most of her belonging to the construction of the Nochemburg Temple, and kept donating every year - good or bad for business - until her death on the 319th day (this number is of particular note to the Church, as it is also the number of bones in a Canid) of the fifty year long construction. The multiple miracles attributed to her in the times that followed still did not obfuscate the real reason for her sainthood and has come to symbolize the devotion of all tradespeople. Similarly, not even the most profane of mercenaries, if native to the Kingdom, dares step onto a battlefield without first reciting the Four Verses while pressing their weapon to their chest. This is the first ritual taught to recruits of the Kingdom’s armies, both the secular one and the Church’s forces. There are many other examples to illustrate the point, and all would highlight the same aspect: if there had ever been any cultural practices before the rise of the Church of Bones, no one remembers them. That said, it would be a mistake to consider the Kingdom devoid of any cultural endeavor and results: though the sacred is the predominant subject matter of all arts, that does not prevent the works from being sublime. Figurative arts have never been the first choice of the Kingdom’s artists, and unlike the Confederation, painting, drawing and sculpting are not taught in any formal manner, bar in small artists’ workshops. Writing, however, is held in high esteem, especially in San Mastino (the city which rivals Nochemburg for the claim more notorious families in the nation, and was still quashed with blood, consolidating the power of Church over the region. The Conspirators, almost all sentenced to the pyre once vanquished, were the Dukes Friedrich Doberhauser (Doberland), Lionel de Boule-Dogue (Boule-Dogue), Siglinda Blaugarten (Lakeland), Rudolph von Behrmann (Nochenland), Katarina Keesheim (Grunewald), Guilbert de Vesterre (Vesterre), and Genevieve Beauceron-Legrand (Gardeciel). Their lands were redistributed among branches of families who had proven their loyalty to the Church or the new aristocracy, in most cases appointing to the rank of Duke previous counts, marquis, or military leaders of notable merit (a famous case is Duke von Rott, a simple sergeant under Rudolph von Behrmann, who remained loyal to the Church during the Conspiracy of the Seven and was rewarded with Lakeland and its Fort). The current situation, now nineteen years since the Conspiracy, sees aged and tired Archduke Kurt von Behrmann in Nochemburg, holding the post which in theory should be assigned to the most powerful of the twelve after the death of the previous Archduke, but which has in fact become a hereditary title devoid of any meaning. The Council of the Twelve should be

31 The Holy Kingdom former. The shamans noticed a second element, in that their magic was much stronger in the presence of the mysterious skeletons, which proved in their eyes the divine nature of the discovery. The seed of a new belief was planted, eventually becoming a religion: from worship limited to the ‘Skelt’ (the oldest written record referring to what are now called the First Vestiges) to worship of the ‘Primogenial Race’ of superior Canids, and finally the cult of the Ancestors more widely. The Church of Bones maintains that the soul of all creatures resides in their bones, which are therefore the sole sacred part of an individual’s body and the sole worthy of burial. It also teaches devotion towards those who came before, as they built the present: all beings are indebted to those who prepared the world for their arrival, and ancestors must be worshiped as a result. The representations (symbolic figures to some, real to others) of such concepts are the Father, the Mother, and the Son. The Father is an incarnation of the past, the foundation, everything which is eternal and unchangeable; one prays to Him for wisdom, strength, steadfastness. The Mother is the incarnation of the present, the origin of and matter with which life is made, the means of growth; prayers to Her usually revolve around a desire for awareness, foresight, comprehension, selflessness. The Son is the incarnation of the future, the courage with which one faces the unknown without ever forgetting one’s roots; prayers to Him are a demand for courage, determination, and insight. The traditional representation of these three entities sees the Son pointing ahead while looking behind, towards the Mother who lights the way to Her pup with a torch, as She holds His hand. Behind Her, the Father has both paws on her shoulders, as if protecting her. Alongside these three central figures, worship is also dedicated to the Saints, considered as ‘family’ for the believers, ancestors of particular merit, who have served the Church in exceptional ways or have been a symbolic manifestation of one of its principles. Given its origins, the Church of Bones does not have a sacred text from which all teachings are brought forward, but rather a collection of writings from various ages, penned by those called the Inspired or Great Prophets: individuals blessed by the Ancestors with hearing Their voices in dreams, visions, or mystical episodes, which they then transcribed. The texts, carefully examined by the council of Occipites overseen by the Keeper of Bones himself, may be added to the Bone Canon if determined to be the true voice of the Ancestors. The majority of these texts (currently around 50) contains the precepts and teachings which determine the various means through which to worship the Ancestors, what is and is not good in the eyes of the Ancestors, the punishment for those who attack in any way the sanctity of the Church, of its ministers, of the Ancestors, and more. What emerges from the Bone Canon are three major virtues that all devoted faithful must aspire to follow: to the cultural center of the country, to arguable success) where it has fueled one of the most successful innovations in the region. Indeed, it is because of a small group of local artisans, and not a great mind from Wind Town, that one of the most revolutionary devices in Vesteria has been ideated and constructed: the printing press. The real problem is that the results of such a device and the valiant output of poets and novelists can only be accessed by nobility and the reductive urban middle class, due to the incredibly low levels of literacy in the country. The distance between the highest and lowest earning classes is akin to a chasm, and equally impossible to cross: if poverty in the Confederation is an evil of the past, it is a reality of the majority of citizens of the Holy Kingdom, especially in the rural regions. Diametrically opposite is the populous aristocracy, and their alternating opulence and rigor, borne of the fascination for military life. Despite genders being considered equal in hereditary matters (there are already rumors of Archduke Kurt being followed by an Archduchess, his first born Johanna), military careers are predominantly male, and a military education is considered the norm for young noble males. The same can be said of those outside of nobility, who must spend a year once they come of age training in weapon handling, so that they may be ready to defend their masters should the need arise. The sole art of war deemed appropriate for female citizens is archery, though a lady of high extraction is expected to learn entirely different skills altogether: in addition to embroidering, reading, and etiquette, music is considered the most valuable. Even outside of aristocratic circles, music is seen as the most noble of all arts: the most accessible to the least wealthy, as it only requires one’s voice and a melody, and well received by the Church in the form of choirs, as it contributes to a sense of community and effort towards a single objective. RELIGION It may seem superfluous to speak further on the matter of religion within the Holy Kingdom, but we have yet to answer the most basic of questions: what is the Church of Bones? The most practiced belief in all of Vesteria is, to all effects, a worship of one’s ancestors brought to the extreme and stripped of its private and intimate nature in favor of a vision in which the Ancestors (the ancient and enormous skeletal remains found on the southern coast over 1500 years ago) are considered the progenitors of all Creatures in Vesteria. The gargantuan remains have been the source of admiration and reverence from the traditional inhabitants of the region, who are claimed to have practiced shamanic beliefs. The first notable element is the similarity between the newly uncovered skeletons and those of the many Canids belonging to their communities; the sole difference being the sheer size of the

32 FORTE LACUSTRE Two centuries ago, Fort Lacustre must have been one of the most imposing military structures in Vesteria, rising above plunging waterfalls. The blood-soaked battle which saw the change of property from the Vandersee to the Blaugarten caused extensive damage to the fortified citadel, but the reconstruction brought thicker walls and even stronger defenses. Which makes the results, then, of Hermann von Rott during the Conspiracy, who successfully infiltrated and conquered the fort with a small handful of loyal soldiers, the more impressive. The story goes that Siglinda Blaugarten, formidable if aged Duchess of Fort Lacustre, yielded to the invader only after making him swear upon the Cross of Bones that there would be no pillaging of the town built just outside the Fort’s walls; the noble gesture towards her people brought von Rott to order that the lady of the Lakelands should not be burned on the pyre, but instead beheaded and buried according to the rites of the Church. Fort Lacustre and its duchy are now in the hands of von Rott himself, one of the newly appointed aristocratic families after the events of the Conspiracy of the Seven; despite his impeccable track record, several of the counts and marquis who report to him still eye him with disdain, due to his humble origins and his less than refined behavior. Whereas the Duke’s adoptive daughter, Elaine Duval-von Faith in the Ancestors and in the Church, Their voice among the living; Obedience of its precepts; Respect for those who came before, as the world as it exists today is only possible because of them. The other side of the coin sees four major categories of infraction worthy of punishment, more or less severe depending on the Church’s rule: insult towards the Ancestors (such as lack of faith, heresy, blasphemy); insult towards the Church and its ministers (contempt towards all which is sacred); insult towards the family (seen as the essential core in the Ancestry system, where being childless can be deemed impure, unless one belongs to one of the various holy orders, as the Church considers its own as ‘family’); insult towards one’s neighbor. The Church hierarchy reaches widely, and includes ministers who preach and lead worship, military orders (first above all the Paladins, though the Inquisition is also infamously known) and minor orders, such as the Brothers of the Sepulcher (who tend to burial rites and processes), the Mortifieds (once considered heretics), and the wandering Preachers who proselytize for the Church and other religious truths. Listed in the minister hierarchy, more specifically, we find the Tarsi (simple priests who tend to and are responsible for the area around their own Temple), Costolari (who coordinate larger areas around cities, and to whom the Tarsi report to), Occipites (one per Duchy) and the Keeper of the Bones, voice of the Ancestors on earth.

33 The Holy Kingdom Kingdom, the magnificent capital with its white spires and noble villas plays host to an abysmal difference between its wealthy citizens and its poorest, going so far as to have erected a wall separating the pearl merchant district and the Noch dock quarters, practically slums. SAN MASTINO As already mentioned in the Holy Kingdom’s Geography section, we will find two ethnicities living within the nation’s confines, which have historically fought over the eastern border; the remains of the conflict are still present in the majority of place and family names. San Mastino is located at the northern summit of the conquest which started from Vesterre and Boule-Terrière, and is one of the few cities where the two ethnicities and language families have found a way to coexist more or less successfully. It is perhaps the most progressive city in the entire Kingdom, and the most willing to follow the Son in looking ahead, rather than the Fatherly focus on the past. This is an urban center which thrives on trade and the production of luxury goods: here one will find the textile production district, working the silks imported from the Eastern Empire (with whom they are the sole trade partners by land), and that of the goldsmiths (formed by a small community of Rodelians) who provide half of the country’s nobility. On the other hand, however, the city also hosts the seat of the Inquisition, one of the Rott, is highly admired and her company sought after due to her aristocratic heritage, casting her as a rightful heir among several local families in the Lakelands. NOCHEMBURG Nochemburg is undoubtedly the largest and most populated city of Vesteria, with Salso Nero and Nova Marina only remotely able to compare to its gargantuan architectonic magnificence, but also the filth of its underbelly (in which Salso Nero may be able to compete). It is the heart of power of the Holy Kingdom: here sits the Archduke, in the De Goff Palace; here meet the councils of Dukes and Occipites; here decisions are taken which lead the country; most of all, here is the sacred throne of the Keeper of the Bones. The Great Temple of Bones, Prime Basilica of the faith, is one of the most spectacular buildings in the continent, decorated with hundreds of jewel-encrusted bones belonging to an equal number of faithful aristocrats who have chosen this as their resting place. Within it is the Crypt of Keepers, in which the bones of the leaders of the Church are kept and displayed for worship, clothed in sacred garbs and placed within crystal shrines. The area below the western transept hosts instead the Vault of Relics, in which similarly attired remains of multiple Saints draw hundreds of worshipers daily. Much as in other parts of the

34 situation radically changed with the Conspiracy of the Seven: the rebel Duke Rudolph von Behrmann called back the garrison, at the time under the command of his son Otto - who mysteriously disappeared in the night after the message had been delivered. The now empty fortress became the home of one of the raider groups put together for the fight; once the Conspiracy had been dealt with, Nochemburg had starkly different opinions about the arrangement. One of the most infamous mercenary groups of the Green Pit was hired, as both armies of the Kingdom were still tending their wounds, and it was thanks to the Worm Brethren and their incredible exploits that Fort Blizzard changed its name. The mercenaries, led by Torquato from Tanafonda and guided by a local armswoman (an extremely rare occurrence in the Holy Kingdom, as women are seldom seen in the military career, if not out of necessity), known solely as Tempest, burrowed through the galleries which connected an empty silver mine just east of Gardeciel to the cisterns of the Fort. With the raiders taken care of, Torquato from Tanafonda settled with his mercenary Brethren - the best in all of Vesteria - in the liberated fortress, and now stands against incursions from the glacial lands to the East. most feared orders of the Church of Bones, tasked with investigating and weeding out any and all possible heresies threatening their dogma. San Mastino’s Occipites also happens to be the older brother to the local Duke, and is known to be as wealthy as he is unscrupulously ambitious. Keeping an eye on his ambition is one of the strictest Inquisitors, Venceslao from Mira, loyal subject to the Keeper of the Bones and fully primed to act in case of treason. THE WORM’S DEN Perched over the Vulture’s Pass, the Worm’s Den has had this name for less than twenty years. It was previously known as Fort Blizzard, and going by the standards of the Holy Kingdom of the time, it was an incredibly advanced structure, built only one century prior by the then Duke of Nochenland Werner von Behrmann with the support of Duke of Gardeciel Geoffroy Beauceron-Legrand, to function as defense against the neverending incursions from barbarians of the White Desert. The Fort was considered impregnable by all master strategists in the Holy Kingdom, and housed a garrison of 250 fighters specialized in high altitude warfare, responsible for the 70 years of peace that finally took over the land after centuries of struggle. The

35 The Green Pit Morderana), are not simple woods - they are the oldest in all of Vesteria, if not the world, and the trees found within are living monuments, often sequoias taller than 300 feet and with diameters wider than 16 feet. Felling even one of these incredible specimens takes enormous effort; felling enough so that a road connecting Holy Kingdom and Confederation may be built, to avoid crossing both the wide rivers and the Spine, is impossible. The areas where the trees have ceded their land to younger woods, allowing the peoples of the Pit to start farming lands, are scarce and often nowhere near fertile enough. Farming such as it is elsewhere in Vesteria is not seen in the Green Pit, where most people have a vegetable patch but no fields exist. Fishing and insect farming are the main sources of sustenance for the Pit’s people, along with the trade of raw materials present in the Pit like nowhere else in the world. The mines dotting the Spine and the Calcaterra, the minor mountainous range reaching from the Spine to Castel del Poggio and see the Aterium spring among them, seem to house an endless source of iron, lead, zinc, silver, copper, gold, platinum, chromium, aluminum, and gems of all colors. The already mentioned forests, especially in the southern regions, are rich in fine woods, sold on foreign markets for extremely high prices. Most of the trade is conducted via water, hence the proliferation of urban developments along the rivers or on the coast (such as Salso Nero, the most populated city in the Pit, or Rossariva, Castel del Poggio, Gloricanta, and Rena), or close to the mines (Tanafonda, Buchebuie, and Coldirame). Sole exception to this is Cimbra, the only city of the Green Pit which regularly trades via land with the neighboring Holy Kingdom, and famous across Vesteria for its incredible woodcrafters. POLITICS It is extremely difficult to outline a political identity for the entire Green Pit, as not even its borders are really officially defined. Often one will find that they are simply the borders of where neighboring nations end, and not where the Pit starts. It is devoid of a central government, a legal canon, an army, and admittedly any civic infrastructure (the only roads worthy of this name are those within city walls, and the Salt Road, which connects Gloricanta, Salso Nero, and Rena, to then continue along the coast to the Holy Kingdom), making this land rich in resources but poor in any kind of organized control, effectively leading to an unclaimed land where everyone applies their at times extremely disparate GEOGRAPHY To an Avian flying over the continent, each nation is easy to distinguish at a glance: the Confederation is a chessboard of farmlands, cities, towns, hills, woods, mountains, webbed with roads as numerous as they are busy; the Holy Kingdom sees houses built almost exclusively against the walls of Dukes’ fortresses, as lakes pierce the landscape like shards of sky, and the woods are much thicker and darker; the Green Pit looks just as its name suggests: a strip of land stretching from coast to coast without ever changing its color, with the exception of the white peaks of the Spine. The climate in this luxuriant land is mutable and famous for its frequent precipitation, which only on the southern coast exclude snow. Winters are cold and ruthless, summers are humid, and fog is almost a constant feature of the northern areas. The sole mountain range of the Green Pit is also the highest, the youngest (if we may call young millenary formations) and hardest to traverse in all of Vesteria. The peaks just behind Tanafonda, one of the few truly inhabited centers of what can barely be called a nation, are the rulers of the continent, towering over even the Maws of the Holy Kingdom. Mounts Ferriera, Sellareal, and the Greater Falda - with its 6000 feet - are crowned by perennial snow, and the still extremely arduous passes which allow to traverse the Spine around Castel del Poggio are closed ten out of twelve months a year. It is easier to cross further north, as the valley of the Ruby River - a tributary of the Vena - leads to the Calante Pass, the only one which can be taken by carts and goods as well as individual hikers; it also coincidentally leads to the Ossarium, a location which deserves further description later. The difficulty with which anyone may cross the Green Pit is fundamental to the reader’s understanding of this lawless country, with no capital city nor roads. The Spine all but isolates its northwestern region, the Vena (the second largest river in the Pit, which becomes a titanic force of nature, prone to floods, as it passes Rossariva) only has a total of three bridges, the Aterium triumphs for its entire 400 miles, its riverbed reaching almost a mile for most of its race to towards the Known Sea, and only ferries allow its crossing; ferries, and the one architectural structure worthy of to be called as such outside of Salso Nero: Longbridge, with its not entirely original name, which crosses the Green Pit’s king of rivers about halfway down its length. In addition to all these complications, readers must consider one more: the wooded areas of the Green Pit, bar the conifers north of the Spine (more similar to the Confederation’s The Green Pit

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37 The Green Pit Pit and its confining states are historically tense: what else can be expected from a location so rich in resources and opportunities, other than to tempt the greed of stronger and better armed neighbors? It might then seem strange, if not entirely surprising, how the Green Pit has never been conquered in its entirety, and only small areas have been under foreign military occupation. The first reason we have already discussed above, and has to do with the difficulties of its terrain and the logistical nightmare for any army to attempt a large scale invasion. Whereas the second has more to do with the local population: much like the landscape, denizens of the Green Pit are untamed and ready to fight, and no foreign occupier has ever lasted more than a couple of years before fleeing back home with their tail between their legs or finding themselves at rest beneath the foliage of a quiet wooded area. Episodes such as the Cimbra siege, the Coldirame massacre, the Seven Sorties, and the Long Night have contributed to the discouragement of any military action towards the impregnable Pit. Recently, however, with the discovery of the Ossarium, the Holy Kingdom has started fueling its own expansionist dreams: only time will tell whether they will ever be successful. CULTURE AND TRADITIONS In all places where sadly the main concern is finding food, shelter, and defending oneself from constant aggression - for most of the population - cultural endeavors have a hard time to flourish. Illiteracy is the rule in the Green Pit, and being able to read and write is seen in equal measure with suspicion, disdain, and envy: suspicious as one can communicate in a silent and indecipherable manner, meaning secrets can be passed along too easily; disdain as it is often seen as a weak point in foreigners (whoever has had the time to learn has not had to fight enough for their life, clearly); envy as many realize the enormous potential of a means by which knowledge can travel, last through time, and be recorded beyond a single individual and their memory. Among all visual arts, the sole which has found a fertile ground in these lands is sculpture, especially woodcarving, in which many masters of the craft reach peaks thought impossible by any who consider the Pit a gaggle of ignorant and violent bandits. The Cimbra area is rightly well known for its mahogany workers, legendary across the lands as the only foreign workforce hired during the construction of the de Goff Palace in Nochemburg. The level and intricacy of their carving is exquisite and precise, impossible to replicate, and it has become fashionable for the Confederation’s nouveaux riches to ride into Salso Nero to purchase luxury furniture for their residences. High-end crafts are considered the highest form of labor one can aspire to, and all manual labor is respected more than intellectual pursuits. own codes and morals. The type of settlement often influences the style of government and the lives of its denizens. Three notable major types have been observed: city-mines, village alliances, and municipalities. Mining towns are built around the several veins across the Pit: their founders tend to be the owners of the land which is being mined, either conquered through force or occupied when left vacant, and usually reside at the top of the hierarchy which governs the settlement. The population lives and works in conditions akin to slavery, as the price for protection from the mine owners - who have accumulated wealth through the extracted raw materials and therefore able to afford a mercenary guard - is by far greater than that of their salary, and they are therefore unable to ever be enfranchised. Mine supervisors occupy the role of functionaries, spies, and helpers to the masters, and are the ones who directly (and forcefully) control the regular and understandable riotous movements among the populace, with the help of small groups of soldiers for hire. Life in these underground cities is extremely hard, but to many it offers a better chance of survival than an attempt at solo adventuring. The Green Pit, after all, claims the highest presence of raiders and pillaging in all of Vesteria: arrogant from the lack of enforcement and fueled by a mixture of survival instinct and desire to overwhelm those seen as weaker, the Green Pit’s bandits count among their number the likes of thieves, smugglers, other nations’ deserters, dissatisfied mercenaries, assorted criminals, and simply unscrupulous individuals with a penchant for cruelty and greed, who would not hesitate to draw blood at the possibility of even the smallest loot. Faced with such a threat, many voluntarily opt to live underground, while others start raising defenses around their villages and contacting neighboring settlements to form rudimentary alliances. The few rural areas and zones under the control of loggers and lumberjacks are filled with these alliances and leagues of small towns intent on maintaining their autonomy by leaning on each other. Labor is still toilsome, threats no less frequent, but life is admittedly a little easier than in the mines in the Spine or the hills of Calcaterra. The next development phase from this type of settlement is the municipality, usually independent cities which, strong off their trade and crafts, have been able to set themselves apart from the alliances of small villages and create their own military presence, city walls, and impose a legal code. The municipalities are very close in structure to the early versions of the citystates which make up the Confederation, and are among the few places where some form of order is maintained. Where fear for one’s life and belongings is not as strong, bureaucracy usually finds a way in: municipalities have a form of taxation, which allows them to build short lengths of roads, bridges, public utilities and even a rudimentary form of postal and delivery services. International relations between the Green

38 than the prospect of slavery and loss of freedom, especially as this is an unfortunately frequent occurrence in the Pit. It may not be called as such (the preferred and most used term is ‘servant’, never ‘slave’), but a servant who will never pay off the debt with their master is a slave nonetheless. The Servant Auction is a frequent and common event for many cities of the Pit, and the one in Salso Nero is famed for its quantity and variety of creatures offered for employment (the polite term under which sales of sentient beings are made). The Green Pit is scattered with materialistic, cynical beliefs, and for many the purchase of kin is a necessary evil no worse than many others. Slavery has dropped its terminology purely for trade with wealthy merchants from other countries, out of fear that a negative moral judgment may chase their coin from the Pit. This, of course, is not the sole opinion on the matter, yet it is still the most rooted, effectively over-ruling all others. RELIGION Partly due to the little urbanization, partly due to the lack of a central power influencing the general population, religion has never played a major role in the Green Pit, and there is no one dominant belief system. The Church of Bones has a moderate following, especially in the municipalities, but there are very few temples beyond their walls and practice is mostly limited to private worship, as is the case in many areas of the Confederation. Many of the aspects of the Church which are accepted as integral to worship in other countries, such as minor festivities tied to Saints, daily liturgies, most precepts used to set apart the faithful from those who do not believe are rarely applied. Instead, many of the traditions of pre-existing religions have been incorporated within the practices of the Church of Bones, which in the Green Pit has become a hybrid cult, bringing together past and present. Alongside what is, in any case, the predominant religion across Vesteria, the Green Pit hosts several ancient animist beliefs, almost entirely extinct in other countries. The most known, and definitely the one which has most been incorporated into the local Church of Bones worship, is that of the Lord of Seeds; his followers hold all life to be sacred, as they believe every living creature holds a fragment of the Lord’s soul, a kind entity who oversees the proliferation of life. Despite the meager number of followers of its purest incarnation, not yet contaminated by the Nochemburg Church, it is still the most practiced belief in the Pit’s central zones, especially among farmers and lumberjacks, the latter of whom often mark the wood ready for sale with a Y (a stylized version of a sprout), the symbol of the Lord of Seeds. There are records of early incarnations of the Church of Bones clashing against the Seeders, in one of the few religious Metalwork in particular has seen the development of innovation with extraordinary results, and Coldirame and its surroundings have seen the creation of a specialized bladesmith school. To this day, the best swords in Vesteria are forged in Coldirame, and the best Artificers can be found only in Tanafonda, as they develop and excel in the new art of fire weapons. The excellence reached in the arms creation and trade is inextricably linked with the provable fact that the most popular career is that of the mercenary (for any gender, as the latter is of little importance to any aspect of daily life in a country where the main concern is survival). Given its troubled history, which saw many invasion attempts from even before the Holy Kingdom was a kingdom, denizens of the Green Pit are very fearful of what appears different, and often react with violence to what they have yet to understand. Unlike their neighbors to the east, resistant to change, people in the Pit are more likely to adopt something new if it turns out to be practically useful and brings no risk in doing so. Common people are often mistrustful and ready for a fight, and very little can scare the citizens of a land with no king and no law more

39 The Green Pit SALSO NERO We have illustrated how urban settlements are few, modest, and fairly distant from each other across the wooden expanse which is the Green Pit, but we have yet to talk about the one great exception to the rule in this non-nation filled with contradictions: Salso Nero is the second largest city in all of Vesteria, the most cosmopolitan, the most chaotic, the one where the wealthy are the wealthiest and the poor are the poorest, where anything is possible if one is willing to sacrifice something. Built in the heart of the Aterium’s delta, this coastal metropolis owes its successes to two major factors: its salt flats, and their black salt which is then left to smoke before sale, and its slave trade, connected to the even larger ones in the Far Lands. On the shoulders of these markets, Salso Nero has grown beyond all expectations in the past three centuries, and has been able to set itself as a pearl among the southern coast of the savage Pit, a shining example of civility and incredible horrors alike, torn between the highest crime rate in Vesteria and some of the most exquisite crafts ever seen. The city’s profile has changed forever since Paddath, slave-trader and current Mayor - as well as the only Lissame to have reached such status anywhere in Vesteria - ordered the construction of a palace in his image to forever oversee the port, connected to the inner city by a wars of which we have written testimony; the language used in the record, however, is so archaic that researchers are still undecided as to whether it actually was the pacific earth-worshipers or practitioners of the Skrìa, the fire magic. Skrìa followers have never truly been welcome, and the few who still adhere to the belief conduct their rites in secret. The Skrìa fire is a hungry, cruel divinity which appears to bestow incredible powers to those who worship it: for example, shamans can divine the future by looking into embers and burning a lock of their own hair, along with an object they do not wish to be rid of and a coin, which will have to be retrieved with bare hands from the embers once the ritual is complete. These mage-clerics have detailed knowledge of all types of flame and flammable material, and have drawn up a hierarchy of pyres to be used for magical purposes: the lowest is a dung fire, and it is considered an insult to read someone’s future through the flames of dried feces; the most powerful is flesh fire, and this is the reason for which Skrìa worshipers are frequently accused of witchcraft, blood rites, and any conceivable brutality. The allegations are rarely fully disproved, leading to the current avoidance and suspicion of anyone practicing Skrìa or suspected of doing so.

40 has been shaken by regular miner uprisings, none of which particularly effective in making its demands heard and overthrowing its masters. Unlike the other underground cities, which rarely attack each other, Tanafonda was an attempted object of conquest by Buchebuie, some thirty years ago, as the latter grew hungry for the resources lacking beneath the hills of the Calcaterra. The constable of his hometown, Ermello from Buchebuie, led the invading forces, and proved himself one of the most formidable commanders in the Green Pit. His biggest mistake, however, was to allow slavers to capture several of the conquered young to be sold in Salso Nero and the Far Lands. One of them would make him pay his debt many years later. Ermello remained as leader of Tanafonda after the conquest, and even in his despot rule showed more mercy than the previous mine owners. Even after the return of Torquato from Tanafonda, no longer a young rebel at the head of a handful of fleeing slaves but now a mercenary fighter, and his reappropriation of the city, there were many who missed Ermello’s rule. Well aware of the resentment of a homeland which he had hoped would welcome him as a savior, Torquato was unable to remain in Tanafonda, and reverted to the leadership of the Worm Brethren (a nickname given to them after the Taking of Tanafonda and its galleries filled with Black Powder) headed for Fort web of alleys and canals. Any other location might have seen such excess as too much to even be considered, but it was well accepted in Salso Nero and has quickly become one of the city’s symbols. Within the walls of the Pearl of the Known Sea, anything can be bought, services can be hired, pleasures unknown can be sampled; lineage means nothing here, reputation is everything, and an assassin will cost less than a fist of nutmeg. Many of the trade routes which connect the Avian Islands, Rodelia, Calìda, and several other eastern ports with the Confederation pass through Salso Nero, ignoring Vesterre and the Holy Kingdom, considered less than ideal for certain deals. It is not just the black market, however, which flourishes in Salso Nero, as the latter has been able to bring together influences and cultures from all of the peoples who cross its gates: in this impossible city alone will the reader find patrician estates decorated with shell mosaics, painters capable of seeding jealousy among Wind Town masters, poets who can declare in ten disparate languages, and the scent of spices unknown elsewhere in Vesteria. TANAFONDA Tanafonda is one of the city-mines which change the heart of the Spine into a hive of activity. Founded around a rich vein of iron and an even richer zinc one discovered at a later stage, much like many settlements of its kind, it

41 The Green Pit Tanafonda is hard because the masters are strict and work is tiring, it is doubly so in Buchebuie due to the sheer size of its population and its incomparable hunger for resources. The difficult climate was seen at one time as an opportunity by one of the most powerful members of the City Council, Galeazzo de Furi, who made sure his granddaughter Cecilia married the leader of the gang who had brought order to the Buca. The marriage of Cecilia and Ermello was bittersweet: despite the arrangement, the two harbored sincere feelings for each other, but de Furi’s influence, his position and ambition were enough to cause the conquest of Tanafonda and all the woes which followed. Despite the latter, which we have shown elsewhere, Galeazzo de Furi still sits on the Buchebuie Council, and we cannot rule out that his ambitions have died along with Ermello. ROSSARIVA AND THE OSSARIUM The Green Pit has never been taken by force, but several times its borderlands have been occupied for a short time, only for the invaders to be fought out by the inhospitable nature of the land and, even more so, of its people. The most recent example can be found in Rossariva, which appears today to be a protectorate of sorts of the Holy Kingdom. Why Rossariva? What is it about a modest river port, devoid of any noticeable successes, that attracts Blizzard, to take part in the events that would make them famous across all lands. The current situation in Tanafonda is confusing and complex: some dream of Torquato’s return, others lament the loss of Ermello, remembering the order of his rule but forgetting his tyranny, and others still take advantage of the divide and focus on profiting from it. Today, the Mayor of Tanafonda is Fredegario Lanza, a former merchant turned opportunistic politician, with substantial ties to the Coldirame Bladesmith Corporation, an impressive mind for business, and a renowned passion for the cat of nine tails. Where his loyalty is overwhelmingly towards his own pockets, that of his two bailiffs is split between the late Ermello and the absent Torquato. BUCHEBUIE Buchebuie is the archetype of what the reader might imagine when we write of city-mines: an awe-inspiring deep burrow, expanding foot by foot under ground, like an enormous termite nest. The higher levels, closer to the fresh air and light of the Spine, are occupied by the mine owners and the wealthy merchants who trade with the surface. The Buca, the part of the mine that sees active digging so far from the sunlight that many who work and live here may never see it again, is home to the miners and their families, splitting into working and domestic shafts. If life in

42 such a powerful, war-bent, crusading country? Rossariva rises from the confluence of the Ruby River and the Vena, maintaining control over the valley beyond. Traveling upstream one will encounter a second confluence with the Rio Costa, which marks the route to follow to reach the Calante, the easiest pass in all of the Spine range. This might already make it an important strategic objective, but again, it was not its position that drew the attention of Nochemburg. Once the pass is crossed, the other side of the Spine is steep and easily falls into rubble. The hard rain and spring thaw often cause landslides: a young woman from the Holy Kingdom, inspired by voices that only she could hear and a religious fervor that the Keeper of the Bones himself would envy, ventured here after one of these landslides, finding the opening to a natural cave which resulted on no existing map. One year later, the young woman - Plautilla - returned to her village after walking for hundreds of miles while dragging a truly gargantuan bone behind her. And so the Ossarium was discovered, and the Church of Bones wasted no time in recovering from its archives the until now apocryphal writings of Mastodonte, finding the location of the cave from the raving prophetess, and sending its army to secure access to one of the most unsettling discoveries of the modern age. The occupation of Rossariva has never been peaceful, as no one in the Green Pit is happy to see the arrival of a foreign army. There were negotiation attempts between general Doberhauser and Lucinda Saltipieri, Mayor of Rossariva, which ended in a kerfuffle as Saltipieri deemed insulting the amount offered to cede to the general the land between Calante pass and Rossariva itself. Unconfirmed rumors tell of how the Mayor, known since youth to be a stubborn kid, charged Doberhauser headfirst, denting his belly armor. She was pierced on the spot by the general’s guards, and her death lit the fuse of the bloody revolt that would immediately follow. The Rossariva Massacre is a sad page in the tumultuous history of the Green Pit, and in the days that followed the city stayed true to its colors, not because of the iron redness of its banks, but because of the blood spilled by its citizens and invaders alike.

43 Le Isole Aviane the local population, who have never dedicated themselves too much to insect farming. Avian Island fishers are admired and respected across Vesteria, and having one on board one’s boat is considered a good omen by many. None of the islands is truly flat, but very few can claim any true altitude variation: beyond the Fire Mountain on Fornace, only Rostride and Vinturo have any peaks above 3000 feet. Unlike other nations, where mountainous areas are also the least inhabited, the opposite is true on the Islands: both Nidialti and Espera are built one against the rocky wall which falls from the Gryph Mountains to the Gulf of Nests, while the other is hidden among the shadows of the high peaks of the western side. Silfia, the third, smallest city of the most populated island in the archipelago, is located on the estuary of the Acqualonga, the longest river in the country, whose valley forms the granary of the Avian Islands. POLITICS The traditionalism of the Avian Islands is second only to that of the Holy Kingdom, and under several aspects it actually trumps the latter: whilst the neighbors across the water are regularly embroiled in internal struggles, State versus Church conflicts, civil wars and rebellions, none of this takes place on the Islands. The power of the monarch (usually a queen) is absolute and unchallenged. The racial caste system is almost never questioned, and for the peoples of the Islands the status quo cannot be touched, not out of impossibility, but rather because it is seen as the natural order of things. The current royal family, the Arpa-Pitris, have been in power for at least 460 years of uninterrupted inheritance. Queen Margherita VI, no longer youthful but still in her prime, has been on the throne for the past 38, and despite not being as adored as her mother - who had earned the nickname of Star of the South and is still incredibly beloved - she is well respected and has proven to be a good leader for her country. The latter’s nobility follows the well-established division into duke, marquis, count, baron, and minor nobility, simply referred to as Lord or Lady of their estate. Rapax and Strigides alone can hold these posts, and millennia of predatory behavior has ensured that even today no one struggles to accept the arrangement. All islands, save Rostride which hosts the Royal Palace in Nidialti, is represented by its highest ranked noble or their delegate (often their direct heir) at the Crown Council, whose function is to guide the monarch in their decision, but has no power to veto or ability to stop them in any way. The highest position GEOGRAPHY The Avian Islands are Vesteria’s only true archipelago, and the thirteen isles that form the country offer some of the most awe-inspiring views in the continent. The eastern block of islands, which includes three of the archipelago’s major landmasses (Rostride, formerly known as Head Island, Remigaria, and Levantine) and the smaller Onyx Rock, is made up of spectacular, brilliantly white chalk formations, and its cliffs dropping into the water below have inspired more than a handful of epic lines of poetry. The islands to the west could not be any more different, a long stretch of volcanic rock: rising from the sea in a turmoil of magma and scalding steam, many boast the famous beaches of black sand which marks them apart from their older siblings to the east. Many of the volcanoes which created them have been extinct for many ages now, and all that remains are the giant craters covered in greenery on the isles of Vinturo, Trispoli, and Fria. The volcano on Fornace, meanwhile, keeps erupting violently, making the island around it almost impossible to settle upon. The neighboring Surgiva and Bagni Reali are famous for their sulfurous springs, considered a source of health by many locals and turned almost a millennia ago into thermal baths; these are visited by wealthy elite and common citizens alike, one of the rare examples of place in which the castes of the island population mixes without conflict. The remaining islands include small Moncorto, and the twinned Greater Altalia and Lesser Altalia, once a single isle split in two by the frequent earthquakes caused by volcanic activity. These magnificent lands are the gardens of the Avian Islands, and their slopes see plantations of fruit trees which cover the land in white and pink once Spring comes. The reader might be familiar with ‘Altalia lace’, which refers both to the trees in bloom decorating the green islands seen from the air, and the actual lacework traditionally made by the Rodelian migrant community, especially their women and children; they gather in their yards, each with their own bobbins, and produce exquisitely intricate lacework, which will then be sold for no small sums at the market in Florizza. The almond trees grown here are particularly famous for the size and flavor of their fruit, and the entire poetic production of the Avian Islands often features dames wearing sweet almond scents. Farming is only feasible on a small part of the archipelago, and only Rostride and Levantine can host actual tended fields. Fishing - as often is the case for island cultures - is the major source of sustenance for The Avian Islands

44 VII was able to face him down, but she also did not wish to rid herself of his abilities and services: she nominated him ambassador to the newly born Confederation, and appointed his son Corrado to High Owl - whom many had whispered she already held in particular esteem, and not entirely political in nature. On the topic of international relations, the Avian Islands are on cordial if neutral terms with all powers in Vesteria, bar a strong if improbable alliance with the small country of Rodelia. The cooperation with the latter has always been known, though it was only made official with the indefatigable efforts of one the most famed diplomats of the archipelago’s history: Violante Galerici, through the Treaty of Eternal Harmony, signed by the Consul of Rodelia Fernàn de la Cueva and Queen of the Islands Marsilia II. CULTURE AND TRADITIONS The Avian Islands’ traditions and cultural values present peculiarities not usually encountered elsewhere in the known world. The most obvious and controversial (though only outside of the Islands themselves, where it is instead fairly well accepted) is the class division based on the Familia of birth, which dictates not only one’s social status but also the careers available to an individual of a specific caste. There are six recognizable classes: the First Class is comprised of the nobility and public officials; the Second Class are warriors; Third Class includes the learned and the artists; in Fourth Class we find merchants, craftspeople, sailors, farmers, fishers; Fifth Class includes all non-specialized workers and simple laborers. Those who labor underground and never fly, those who conduct a life of crime or are forced to live in servitude to pay off a debt is considered Filth, the sixth and lowest class, effectively disenfranchised in Avian society. Those belonging to the First Class have access to the occupations of each class below their own, but are usually judged for taking ‘too low’ a position. For example, it is socially acceptable for the second offspring of a noble family of Falcons to pursue a military career, usually a Second Class occupation; they would concern their family and spread gossip among the servants if they chose academic studies, but they would still be tolerated (and perhaps even praised in case of excellence); they would be repudiated and cast out should they choose to set off as a lowly sailor. By contrast, anyone born in Second Class or lower cannot ever access a higher post. The only manner through which one’s caste might be ‘elevated’ - and this applies solely to individuals and their direct descendants - is by doing such a tremendous service to a higher ranking caste that they might receive a Token of Rebirth, a symbolic gift which signifies how much said individual has transcended their cast by personal merit. If a descendant of someone who has within the Council is that of High Owl, which as the name might suggest is exclusively the remit of Strigides of noble blood from the Espera line, the twilight city beyond the Gryph Mountains, the only one to rival in power with Nidialti and its Eagles. The High Owl is somewhat of a First Counselor and is the sole position which may be delegated by the Crown to effect decisions on State matters. Many a time in the history of the Nidialti monarchy the throne has been occupied by someone unquestionably unable to rule; on these occasions, the High Owl has always discreetly taken the reins of the kingdom. Only once did this happen in an explicit manner, to the point of boasting: during the reign of Sigismund I, the Absent King (an epithet which might tell the reader about his rule more in general), at the hands of High Owl Cornelius Attanei, count of Espera, one of the most lucid and opportunistic leaders that the Avian Islands have ever had. Attanei wanted to ensure that people knew who was really behind the prosperity of the country during those troubled twenty years, and when the time came for Sigismund’s daughter Lavinia to be crowned, he did all he could to maintain the power he had built. Lavinia

45 Le Isole Aviane

earned a Token proves themselves unworthy of it, however, the whole family would plummet back to the original caste. Those, instead, who refute their own caste and dedicate themselves to lower mansions immediately lose all privileges, and their descendants are now tied to the lower class they have been relegated to. Clergy people operate outside of the caste system, though this is so rooted among Avian society that they often, even unwittingly, still apply its rules. Avians who emigrate or who are born on the continent are exempt from the caste system but are not well looked-upon by the archipelago dwellers: to the eyes of a Heron of Levantine, the mercenary Chickens often seen in the Green Pit are a despicable and ridiculous sight, as the Ruspei would never be able to access the Second Class’ military career in their homeland. Generally speaking, Rapax, Strigides, and Crows alone belong to the First Class, other Corvids, Geese, Pelicans (traditionally well placed in the navy) and Herons belong to the Second Class, other Ansers and Grarcons to the Third, Pici and Ruspei to the Fourth. The Fifth Class brings together all those who have not been able to carve out space in a higher caste, and the same can be said of the Filth. All of this may appear complex, contradictory in parts, and often unjustified to outsiders (especially continental Avians), but it is crucial to locals, and seen as natural and just. Each settlement maintains a census of the Classes and those who belong to them, meticulously updated with each birth, each death, each disgraceful and valorous act which might have modified the standing of their population in the system. One of most notable examples of promotion is the already mentioned Duck family to which Violante Galerici belonged, whose efforts were rewarded with a Token of Rebirth from the Queen herself and even promotion to First Class. The current heir of the Galerici family, Agata, is Avian ambassador to Rodelia, and is holding high her dynasty’s honor. In Avian culture, international relations, what is found beyond the flat horizon of the Known Sea, and the desire for discovery have always formed a crucial aspect in direct contrast with the 46

47 Le Isole Aviane crimes meant being eaten by the local nobility. Today, it is seen as a barbaric and unimaginable horror, but this does not prevent some from whispering how it is still very much a reality in certain remote areas of the archipelago. RELIGION Religion has never been of any particular relevance in Avian society. The Church of Bones confirms itself as the most followed practice, though rituals are slightly modified (celebrations last longer, are conducted in the older language, and singing and music take a central role), but many Avians attend these more out of tradition than actual devotion. This is somewhat inverted in rural areas, and those who believe do so with utmost sincerity. Within religious hierarchies, the entire Class system collapses, as the spiritual world is seen as separate from the secular traditions of the kingdom. The separation of the two is clear, and the powers in Nidialti distrust the Holy Kingdom, considering the dangers of bringing together two worlds which should be left to each other. Those who choose to follow their faith join to all effects an unnamed Class, which brings together all worshipers of all faiths, treated with both respect and caution by the other Classes. Despite many still unconsciously applying the system’s principles (it is more probable to see Occipites come from Strigides rather than Pici), the relations between Species and Familiae is much more relaxed compared to wider Avian society. Alongside the Church of Bones, some minor religions still survive on the more remote Islands (especially Trispoli and Fria), most likely practiced for millennia and jealously preserved by their followers. The Celestial Singers are a sect of moon and tide worshipers about whom very little is known; probably composed, for the most part, of Nightingales and Strigides, though there are no written records, making the task of an outside chronicler almost impossible. Among the kingdom’s military forces, we find the widespread Huntress’ Faith, whose implacable divinity champions strength, discipline, courage, and all qualities traditionally tied to hunters, and by association, soldiers. This is a religion with no temples nor celebrants, in which the relationship between the believer and the Goddess is direct and personal. It is said that the greatest gift that the Huntress can bestow is the Red Vision, the battlefield fury which manifests in the form of heightened senses, reflexes, absolute focus, and a disregard for death. otherwise traditional and reactionary local society and systems. Pioneers to the Treaty of Eternal Harmony, famous explorers Alderigo (a Pelican from Onyx Rock) and Juan (an intrepid Rodelian Glider, one of the first cartographers to resort to the help of an Avian to accurately map the borders of Vesteria) are considered national heroes and each year sees a re-enactment of sorts of their adventure, staring on June 24th. A Pelican and a Glider are cast to play the parts of Alderigo and Juan, and are accompanied by a procession of Avians and Rodents (some already living on the Islands, others traveling from Rodelia for the occasion) as they set flight for the Confederation, following each stop of the original pairing. The two weeks of festivities end in Nova Marina, which hosts a famous statue dedicated to the two explorers, with an evening of banquets and stage shows. The Rodelian community which has settled on the Islands is held in high esteem thanks to the invaluable assistance provided by an army of small but extremely dexterous hands can bring to an entire genus of creatures with large wings but lacking opposable thumbs. Many of these communities have adapted to the Class system, though in their case not based on Species; many Rodents proudly claim to belong to the Fourth or even Third Classes, thanks to their skill as craftspeople or sailors. One of the fields in which Rodelian participation is the most sought out is precisely the latter: there are very few Avians capable of moving among the sails and trappings of a large ship, or even of rowing an oar, and proof of this can be seen by the high Rodent population in the docks area of Nidialti, and the few Theri anywhere on the Islands. There is, however, a rule that each and every ship maker, captain, or merchant follow closely: no more than two Mice at any time must be present on the same crew. The strange ruling finds its origin in the tendency for Mice to gather through an extreme sense of community and has frequently led to actual mutinies. A famous case can be seen with a crew exclusively comprising Rats which, within two months, was able not only to mutiny and take control of the vessel, but also to become one of the most feared pirate ships of the Known Sea and its busy routes. It has been 92 years, and the patched up, descendant crewed Laughing Egret still sails the seas of Vesteria, pillaging and looting with no consequence, and the Mouse veto seems justified. Many wish for this cursed crew to be caught in the waters of one of the Rapax rumored to still adhere to the Old Laws: historically, a death sentence for particularly sordid

48 anyone without the gift of flight, it is practically impossible to access the High City, and only recently has a cable car been installed to allow for foreign dignitaries to access the Royal Palace without having to waste an entire day crawling around the suspended alleyways of the High City or go through the humiliation of being carried by an Avian. The area of Port Talon has become famous for its fish market, apparently the largest, best stocked and of highest quality of all of Vesteria, and many attend the early morning auctions led by Cormorants squawking higher and higher prices according to the silent gestures and nods from the merchants and fishers present. ESPERA Where Nidialti rises like a white spear above its equally candid cliffs, the second largest city of the archipelago chooses to be more discreet. Espera, also called the Dark City, is plunged into the pine forest of its narrow valley, in the shadow of three sides of the Gryph Mountains. It only receives direct sunlight for three hours every day, and only NIDIALTI Few ports in the world can boast a better position than that of the capital of the Avian Islands, protected by a gulf so close it almost becomes a lagoon. Despite its spectacular location and the tangible advantages it brings, the city rising over the picturesque cliffs which have been given the nickname of Great Perch, is a recent development, when compared to other large cities in Vesteria. We need not travel farther than fifty years prior to the time of Alderigo, the famous explorer, to witness the first agreement between the Eagles nesting on the cliffs and the community of Pelicans who wished to settle there. The expansion of Nidialti in the following centuries was explosive and fueled by the growing activity of its port. One of the characteristics that most stands out in the city’s construction is the visible difference in structure between the docks areas, built to be accessible for those not equipped with wings, and the High City, built for Avians: there are no railings, no gangways or stairs, only landings (some very simple, some intricately decorated) jutting into the air from round building doors. For

49 Le Isole Aviane is their oratory skill. The College building, much like the rest of Espera, is not elegant or particularly noteworthy: the city’s architecture is simple, functional and moderate in its elegance, comprising clean and regular proportions. The peak that overlooks the city hosts a small castle, from where the Counts of Espera (the last two centuries these have been the Attanei family) administer their affairs. Atop the squared fort sits the High Owl, First Counsel to the royals of Nidialti and Honored Orator, title assigned to those presiding over the regular meetings of the city’s most notable families. These gatherings, called Parliaments, occur by rotation at each family’s estate, and usually involve debates of cultural interest. They serve both as social events during which one might exchange information or acquire knowledge, and as contests between political rivals, as in Espera the tongue is more feared than the dagger or the rostrum. The Strigides subculture assigns great importance to all intellectual pursuits, and those who distinguish themselves during Parliaments do not go unnoticed. during summer: this quality, which would make any development less appealing to the vast majority of creatures, is at the heart of Espera’s identity: a ghost city by day, which only comes to life once the light dies. Its population is almost entirely nocturnal Species: Strigides, which form the majority of its citizens, and the small community of Vespertili which occupy the Vico Mimbranella neighborhood and its alleys. The inversion of rhythms and the uniformity of its citizens has given Espera somewhat of a sinister fame, and very few ‘dailies’ (the term by which the locals call those who do not entirely tolerate nocturnal life) visit for long. The only motivation for the latter would be to attend its famous College, commonly known as the Solcalante School or simply Solcalante, where subjects taught range from math to literature to natural sciences in a manner very different from that of equally celebrated institutions such as Wind Town’s Schola Ducale. The teachers here prefer debating each subject with their students rather than holding monologues from their lecterns, and the first quality recognized and rewarded in its students

50