Pathfinder Regional Deepdive: Northeast Avistan - Mendev, Brevoy & Iobaria

[Music] foreign there is a vast cold Northern Lake called the lake of Mists and veils the lake is formed of glacier water from the crown of the world which pools the northern edge of the world and then becomes the source for the mighty Selen river that floods through so much of the river kingdoms further south and because of the almost impassable nature of the crown of the world this vast body of water has served as a hub of trade and transportation for the northeasternations of the Inner Sea because of its enormous size in fact the lake of Mists and veils heavily influences much of the weather of the surrounding lands with great fogs rolling up off the banks of the lake and freezing rains and snow coming down from the north and crossing the lake in the winter this important water feature in northeastern avastan is bordered by the crown of the world in the north by the nation of mendev in the west by numeria in the southwest by brevoy in the Southeast and by the nation of ayabaria in the East a nation which doesn't appear on the Inner Sea World Map at all in fact since it's actually part of the continent of kasmarin which lies east of avastan which is why I'm having to switch to a different Regional map for this video there are a few other nations that are significant in this region as well the nation of old SAR chorus now often called the sarcore SCAR or simply the world wound lies just west of mendev this nation had the impact of transforming the nation of mendev into a nation of Crusaders after the opening of the world wound just over a hundred years ago the river kingdoms as mentioned feeds on the runoff from the lake and lies to the south of numeria and brevoy also adjacent to parts of the western Selen are the nations of ustalov and rasmir in the southwest finally south of bravois is an inhospitable region called the Windswept wastes that creates a rough border between much of avistan and kazmarin in the east in this video I will discuss three of the Nations that border the lake of Mists and veils because they broadly have a shared history those are the kingdoms of mendev of Breville and of ayabaria the largely colored kingdoms of numeria and sarchorus will get their own Deep dive videos and ustalov and the river kingdoms already have deep dive videos of their own up on the channel already mendev brevoy and ayobaria are not only physically close to one another but they also have a shared cultural and ethnic background all three nations are populated primarily by the ayabarian people not unlike the Kevin Rus of our real world who were the ethnic precursors to many Ukrainian and Russian peoples today and who were ruled over by Scandinavian Viking Lords in the Middle Ages the ayabarians of galarian were originally in eastern Abyssinian or Western kasmin people who were colonized by elephant occupiers who came to the land over the crown of the world four thousand years ago eventually leading to the mixed race modern ayabarians who often show a varied mix of both eastern and western features in fact because of their mixed Heritage ayabarians rarely identify as a single ethnicity instead identifying themselves according to narrower family lineages and it's typically only Outsiders that few ayabarians as a single ethnic group regardless over the next Thousand Years various events would cause ayabarians to settle in other nations ordering the Great Lake driven by various events in their history following the spread of a deadly disease called the choking death for example many ayabarians settled in great numbers on the Eastern shores of the lake of Mists and veils a land that was previously populated mainly by sarkorian kellids and they would eventually form the nation of mendev there meanwhile the kingdom of Breville was once the furthest Northern and Eastern reaches of the empire of taldor until in 4499 the great ayabarian warlord Carl the Conqueror came West to conquer brevoy and create a new nation there as well today all three of these nations maintain close cultural and Commercial ties and while they are each unique in their own right it makes sense to cover some of the shared history in a single deep dive video of course as I like to do let's go all the way back before any of these human nations were established to before the Earth fall cataclysm and talk about the Region's pre-human history the history of Northeastern avastan the start of our regional history will take us far afield during the age of serpents which lasted an immensely long time and covered much of galerian's pre-history roughly from minus 15 000 AR to minus 7000 AR there was a great and powerful Cyclops Empire in Northern Garand and the Heart of its civilization was in the shackles a wide archipelago that will get its own Regional Deep dive video in the future however as you may know from watching my regional Deep dive video on the nation of Gab the Cyclops Empire stretched all the way across Garand and golgan ruins can be found along the eastern coast of Garand as well at some point during the age of serpents a group of golgan were exiled and they set sail from the eastern coast of Garand eventually settling on another archipelago this one located on the west coast of kasmarin a region known as iblidos this group established a new Cyclops Kingdom headquartered in iblidos and it was called the kingdom of choleran the choleran Cyclops would in time circumnavigate the inhospitable maraz desert by way of the kellish Highlands and discover the castrovin sea as a seafaring people who favored Island and Coastal settlements the choleran Cyclops embraced the castrovency as their own private ocean hidden away from the rest of the golgan Empire allowing them to spread their own culture without fear of running afoul of their Brethren cholerant Cyclops structures can be found all along the coastlines of the castrovin sea but nowhere can they be found in Greater density than in the area of modern-day ayabaria the northern reach of their empire their ancient cities in the region included the vast port cities radineras along the mirfest river and its Inland nearby sister city of mavradia but their very greatest City they built All the Way North Beyond the castrovin Sea on the lake of Mists and veils itself this was the site of the modern city of orlov in time they would also construct the massive Temple City of kyria located in the Peaks above the sir zemian mountains perhaps their greatest architectural achievement they also constructed a number of watchtowers including Cask kirothar husk ultheran and orostros the watching Star which is now a burned out structure known as Frau Ross the charred watchtower in addition to their various outposts the choleran Cyclops created a few more unusual structures Auto skier also known as the opal island is a strange opalescent Dome that rises from the Waters of the niveered lake they also carved a great eye into the tallest mountain in the surzemian mountains its lone decorated Peak towering above all of its piers and it is commonly called orosnir the eye Mount this eye flashes with unknown magical energies every few decades and locals have long suspected that these energies are somehow related to ayabaria's frequent ills finally there is the more of karth built in the ice Rhine Peaks this separates ayabaria from Continental avastan the ma of karth is a massive fanged skull carved into the mountains towering over two neighboring Peaks to create a gate with karth's tongue his stairs and fangs as side rails that connect a massive Stone Doorway to the collar and Roads it is so awe-inspiring that many creatures that dwell in the mountains see carth as a terrestrial incarnation of an actual God connecting all of their City in various monuments the Cyclops constructed the choleran roads the choleran roads were a network of ancient stone roads spanning the ancient empire first discovered by elephant explorers these roads are still used today as the only means to Traverse ayabaria's more dangerous regions such as the fanguard forest or the grenauf plateau and they continue to provide the sole means of reaching the city of kyria also in this pre-earth fall time the elves first came to galarian and as is their Preference they built homes for themselves in various woodlands and forests across the Inner Sea region in northeastern avastan they settled in the estrovian forest and there they befriended the sarkorian khalids who lived in small druidic communities in the estrovian one particularly sophisticated group of sarkorians had built a holy site for themselves dedicated to the sarcorean god igrir skymane a place that they called timal Tamal was discovered by a group of Elven Scouts who had come exploring the northern Woodlands among these khalids the elves witnessed the sarkorian practice of God calling and a small group of Elven Scholars settled in the small settlement to watch and study the phenomena Tamal was built on a high Stone Cliff jutting up from the dense surrounding Woodlands a winding and dangerous footpath was the only way to reach it initially but once the elves started to settle there as well their addition of an elf gate known as the edelon gate which connected it directly to the Elven capital yadara in keonin meant that it grew fairly rapidly into a prosperous settlement and this place of Elvin and kellid cooperation remains one of the most ancient and best preserved sites of pre-earth fall human architecture in the world when the elves of Tamal received early warning of the coming earthfall apocalypse they were offered the chance to retreat to severian however because this offer was only extended to the elves of the town the town's Khalid residence became enraged they charged through the edelon gate and into the city of yadara in response the keonin government sealed the gate leaving the residence of the town to deal with earthfall on their own this ended friendly Khalid and Elven relations in the land the khalids claimed the city and the elves fled some likely managed to make their way to keonin on foot before the cataclysm While others scattered across the land possibly becoming ilvarani or drow or other types of the remaining elves in -5293 the earth fall cataclysm did occur as the elves predicted when the star Stone crashed into galerion it not only kicked up a massive cloud of dust and dirt that covered the world in darkness but those events also had an effect on the Cyclops of both the gargan and choleran Empires cursing the survivors of the cataclysm with a dulled mind and a painful memory of something both lost and forgotten that scratches Forever at the edges of their minds for more details on the modern Cyclops descendants of the gargan and the choleran see my Giant's Creature Feature video which contains a section on the Cyclops after the cataclysm it took a long long time for anything approaching civilization to return to the region in fact Humanity would not emerge as the dominant culture in ayabaria instead after the downfall of the Cyclops Empire the dominant emergent people in the region would be the centaurs whose hearty stamina and ability to cover great distances in search of food gave them a natural advantage in the cold harsh climate of the northern land ayobaria steps Hills and forests served as the home of three recognized groups of centaurs the azorva the rashalka and the tsolniva the azorva are mountain and Highland centers stockier and stronger than the norm and of Darker skin and coat Hues they dominated the mountains and Highlands of ayabaria the rashalka are fair-haired centaurs and we're the most numerous of the ayabarian centaurs in the west and all across the South ranging from a Coors Basin to the samarin plains the remaining territories belonged to solniva centaurs who are the most pursuit of the centaurs with the hair on their torsos nearly as thick and long as the coats covering the rest of their bodies in -4987 the dwarf King tar targath breached the surface of the world in a place now called the five Kings mountains in South Central avastan completing the long prophecied fulfillment of the Quest for the sky of course this was only the beginning of the dwarf emergencies and many other clans of dwarves would find various other paths to the surface from the southern reaches of Garand to the northern reaches of avastan in northeastern avistan the largest dwarf tribe to emerge and begin to settle in the surface was the golca clan which settled in and around the goluschkin mountains the mountains are filled with a great deal of Natural Resources such as iron nickel copper silver and Tin the resources are mined by the golca clan of dwarves who live in the Dwarven city of galushkin deep beneath the surface in addition to various underground settlements in the mountains themselves the golca dwarves also established the surface settlement of high delve in -4363 the reign of stars occurred in that year the Divinity a spaceship from the planet androffa crashed into galerion breaking apart and burning through the atmosphere and falling in pieces across numeria some fragments were the size of a fist While others were as large as towns the largest piece known today is the Silver Mount fell near the future capital city of Starfall and the city itself derives its name from this event in -39-23 the pit of gormuz opened up in central casmeran at a place located more or less directly south of the castrovian sea this event caused such terrific shock waves that the Southern Coastline of ayabaria experienced hurricanes and flooding for several years after this event in -1281 some ways to the South areden the last aslante would help the first emperor taldaris found the Empire of taldor more details on these events can be seen in mitaldor Deep dive video in the year one the age of enthronement begins aridan would become the first of the ascended human Gods by raising the star Stone from the sea floor founding the city of Absalom and becoming the patron deity of taldor and it wouldn't be long before the Empire of taldor would grow in power and prosperity and would eventually expand to the point of impacting the lands of Northeastern avastan in fact as early as the year 37 taldor had initiated its first great Army of exploration which began its conquest of many of the lands north of taldor including the entirety of the modern River kingdoms halting their Advance only when they reached the borders of the Savage Khalid tribes of numeria in 499 the taldons began to push West around Lake and carthan in the heart of avastan Conquering the lands that would one day become ustalov taldons were not the only people in this period that developed imperialist Ambitions as discussed in my lands of the lineram king's Deep dive video in 752 orphan settlers came over the crown of the world and discovered the lake of Mists and veils they established their first settlement at acwormir on the Northern side of the ayabarian Bay by the following year these orphan explorers discovered the choleran roads and began building the city of orlov among the ruins of an old cyclop city across the bay despite Olson settlement in the region they were not colonized in the same way the taldons were as they lacked a unifying vision and just as it had been in their Homeland the elephant settlers soon divided among themselves into conflicting groups of thanes with no single King to unite them regardless the city of orlov expanded rapidly soon becoming a trade Hub in the region the city connected with the sarcoreans across the lake as well as with the taldons in the South by way of the selin river more orphan settlers arrived each year as well as local indigenous humans who flocked to the cities from across this land to make their Fortunes in the growing towns of orlov and akwormir and they were welcomed by the olfen settlers who needed more hands to grow their Regional interests from the orphan settler as the indigenous humans acquired many of the Elfen ways and traditions especially when it came to the construction of homes and buildings olfen longhouses and thatch roof homes became common not just in oath unsettled areas but across the entire region as a whole in this early period Northern Human merchants and travelers of both ulfin and Indigenous descent using orlov as a base of operations began to settle in the surrounding areas especially the wide unclaimed reaches North of the gnarl marches which the taldons had not yet occupied and which would eventually form the kingdom of brevoy by 764 the city of orlov became larger than a Cormier effectively becoming the capital of the new orphan Kingdom the great distance that separated the linorm kingdoms from the emerging ayabarian Kingdom meant that this group was slowly developing their own distinct culture and mixing between the native peoples and the olfen settlers who didn't have the same Superior attitude the taldons had in their conquered lands meant that a new people distinct from both the elephant settlers and the indigenous human tribes had already begun to emerge here these of course would become the ayabarian people of today between the year 780 and 846 this new emergent human polity of mixed orphan and Indigenous people continued to build wealth and influence for themselves establishing many additional cities in the mainland the cities of orrost and tall lanusia mishkar kirasuli and kiria were founded in the lands east of the ice Rimes the cities of winter break Port ice and Eagles watch in the northern reaches of the unsaturated lands north of the talden Empire would also be established in this time period along with a number of other small Forts and outposts along the way to the talban border the land was not truly United in any common way but each City had its own theme and was governed independently as a single city-state though the most influential of these was Thane Kiel of orlov as orlov was the most powerful City in the region meanwhile in the South between 861 and 896 the whispering Tyrant emerged and conquered much of the talban lands west of numeria when the whispering Tyrant was finally defeated the talden ceded the land west of numeria to the virusian nomads of that region thus forming the kingdom of ustalov more details on this can be seen in my ustalov deep dive video in the year 905 Thane Kiel passed rulership of orlov to his son ayabar as he was growing older and suffered from various ailments ayobar was not as content as his father had been with the status quo he envied the power of the United Talons in the south and sought to create a United Empire of his own within a year of his Ascension to power he summoned all his banners to him and he United all the lands from the lake of Mists and veils to the kestrovian Sea he named this land ayobaria and became its first king in the early years of his Rule King ayabar established the great city of credorn on the castrovian sea determined to build a port on the other great shore of his kingdom that would rival his home of orlov in the north unfortunately growth of the city was stymied by yenchaburi pirates from across the castrovian sea in his later years King ayobar increasingly spent time in cridorn himself to shore up the city's defenses convinced that if he could make the city impregnable then ayabaria itself would become the vital trade thoroughfare between the nations of kasmaran and avastan as no Traders or Merchants would Brave the journey across the Windswept wastes it could be argued his determination would prove his undoing in 937 kasmin Pirates once again besieged tridorn seeing it as an opportunity to plunder the vast wealth King ayobar was funneling into the nascent Port City King ayabar himself died in battle defending the city against pirate Raiders during the final battle of cridorn King krugel iobar's eldest son succeeded his father for the throne of ayabaria and focused on completing his father's great work repelling the pirate fleets from the East and spending the rest of his rule improving ayabaria's fleets intent on eradicating the powerful mercenary Pirates and Corsair fleets as well as paid privateers from both yenchabur and inshibur the two dominant powers on the southern reaches of the castravian Sea by 975 King krugil fulfilled his father's vision and cridorn arose as a great Port City out of the ashes of various sieges and battles ayabaria entered an age of Plenty and by 1080 two more large towns were established in ayabaria the cities of rohran and Vladimir in 1080 the ayabarian kingdom experienced its first major setback with the outbreak of the tier plague which ravaged the human settlements around the finadar forest and the norinor forest despite the first plague outbreak this event was fairly localized and controlled and the kingdom recovered quickly between 1240 and 1528 the ayabarians continued to build more cities and townships in the region they claimed the Cyclops ruins of mavradia and zradiniras and turned those two ruins into bustling human settlements further up the mirfest river they waged a 24-year long war with the hoofwood centaurs to claim the city of Vernier located at a vital Fork where the Mir first met the ardstrad river finally they established a second Port City along the kestrovian Sea called murn Bay a city that grew so rapidly it soon outstripped Old King ayabar's much-loved Port of cridorn to be the wealthiest Port City on the Northern castrovian in 1634 there emerged in Necromancer in central ayabaria named otib the undying Plumbing's secret Knowledge from the Cyclops ruins otib developed the Char death a magically engineered plague that would cause its victims to combust in Flames as they died the plague was both deadly and virulent and at least a third of the major ayabarian settlements suffered major fires as a result of this unusual magical contagion despite human advancement in the region ayabaria had always been a wild land and in 1717 this fact was brought into shocking Clarity for its residents when two ancient dragons a blue and a red named shradniar and voldemana sign respectively clashed over fanguard Forest both dragons died in the struggle though the conditions that led to their deaths remain unclear the Great Dragon schrodner crashed near the city of antol with strange glyphs discovered burnt Into the Blue dragon's body so deeply that they scarred even his bones fault Mana sign instead crashed deep in the fangard with some clay claiming that a force from deep within the forest itself struck the ancient dragon dead after the battle was already over in the year 1900 the Centaur tribes of the samarin Plains United under the banner of assyr named erendane they sacked the great Port City of mirn bay and destroyed numerous other human settlements as well the centaurs began to carve out a small Kingdom for themselves in this period but in 1986 Aaron Dane The Seer died mysteriously after an unnaturally long life and shortly thereafter the centaurs of the region abandoned their war-like ways returning to the more peaceful nomadic lifestyle they had led prior to the old Sears arrival from 2009 to 2014 the taldons launched their Fifth Army of exploration this one with its sights set northwards they pushed beyond the swampy gnarl marches that served as a natural border between their conquered River kingdoms and the unclaimed lands west of ayabaria although the local populace of mixed ayabarian and open ethnicity did their best to unify and is held an occupation the taldons deployed a magical Siege engine called the world breaker which enabled them to knock down the walls of any Forts and cities they encountered with relative ease this pushed the borders of the talden Empire all the way to the lake of Mists and veils Talent occupation here differed slightly from its occupation in the river kingdoms in the river kingdoms the taldons found the local khalids were too unruly to govern and quickly stamped them out wherever they could effectively wiping out the local populations but north of the gnarl marches the ayabarians were more akin to the varicians of ustalov and they more readily integrated with the talden rulers in time many provincial Governors and rulers would be of mixed ayabari and ulfin and talden ancestry and an emergent class of mixed nobility would begin to establish itself in the region that would create some long-lasting dynasties many of which would Outlast the talden occupation of the region in any case the taldons established two main provinces in the region the province of isia in the North and the province of Rossland in the South although in the early years of talden occupation a talden provincial governor was instated in the province of isia at the newly established provincial capital of Port ice it was not long before the wealthy and cunning ayabari and Noble House of surtova swore fealty to the taldons and were able to secure governorship though required to pay Talent taxes how sertova would have uncontested rule in isia for more than a thousand years interestingly although the surtovens claimed distant lineage to King ayobar himself through some convoluted means their wealth and power didn't come from their lineage but from their profession as skilled Pirates and Smugglers and prior to their skillful diplomacy with the taldons the surtovens applied their Shady business across the lake of Mists and veils and all along the lengths of the Sullen River meanwhile in the South the taldons established the provincial capital in the growing city of New stetvin but it exchanged hands several times between several different Talent Governors typically Stern men with a long military history but each in turn failed to truly bring the unruly outlying territory under anything approaching any kind of order at least until 3035 but we'll get to that later despite having been sacked and taken by centaurs only 30 years ago humans had begun to flood back to the city of mern bay after the centaurs abandoned it and by 2108 it had re-emerged as a regional power once again its defenses were reinforced and the new government passed a rule that would ban centaurs from entering the city for more than 400 years in 2546 another major plague this one dubbed oddjar's plague ravaged the kingdom of ayubaria the third such major plague outbreak in the last 1500 years still the nation managed to recover and persevere in 2602 ayabaria suffered its first major Civil conflict in the Eastern reaches a combined Kingdom of humans and centaurs would form the New Kingdom of zastel with its capital situated in mavradia between 2654 and 2686 the ayabarians would launch the Reclamation War which eventually they would win effectively reuniting the kingdom between 2742 and 2920 ayabaria experienced not just one Calamity but many all in Rapid succession for six years a terrible plague called the choking death swept through the land in this period this respiratory disease suffocated more than 40 percent of ayabaria's adult population as it was more virulent than any of the previous plagues who have come through the land the choking death even spread through taldor's Northern provinces as refugees brought it with them the choking death Was Then followed by the plague Strife a series of riots and sectarian violence that occurred as a direct result of anger and loss due to the choking death in the plague Strife various Druid sex guilds and political groups accused each other of bringing the disease failing to control it or otherwise being responsible skirmishes and vendettas would erode ayabaria's central government control of its various cities and factions finally in 2920 the central kasman earthquakes which would also affect taldor and khadira in the South caused massive flooding all over the coastal settlements along the Northwestern castrovin leaving many cities damaged or destroyed by the tidal waves not surprisingly by the early 3000s ayabaria experienced a period they called the Great Exodus ayabarians left ayabaria in huge numbers many settled in the northern provinces of taldor in the lands that would become bravoy and the river kingdoms however some chose to sail east across the lake of Mists and veils and settled in the unclaimed lands east of sarcorus these ayabarians arrived in Fairly large numbers and established a few notable settlements in the region the first being the port city of aguede these settlers quickly realized that there was money to be made by passing the child and territories and trading directly with the nation of ustalov which could be reached by following the egosi River from aguede to karkau the provincial capital of the ustalovic province of synaria the used Labs were happy to acquire ayabarian Goods without paying the high tariffs charged by The Talented imperialists as a result these settlers would establish further settlements All Along The egosi River because the wild astrovian forest are butted with the egosi river many of these smaller towns like Lac throat and elunis were built on the numerian side of the river which of course meant that they were subject to near constant raiding by Khalid Marauders and in time these Wild Frontier settlements would become mixed ayabarian and Khalid Frontier towns finally the ayabarian settlers would build a much larger and more secure City further up River at the conjunction of the eagle sea in West selin a city called nerosian in time nerosian would become the capital of a new ayabarian principality named mendev the mendevians would establish another moderately sized Township further up the West selling as well the town of kennebress humans weren't the only to flee ayabaria ayabari at the time was also the home to the mourinhi halflings a halfling people that had adapted to the Region's colder climates they suffered so greatly from the choking plague that they scattered all over the remote parts of Eastern avastan becoming itinerant Travelers never resting in one place for too long I discussed the mourinhi halflings in more detail in my small folk ancestry guide video in 3035 in the province of Rossland provincial governorship came to a hot-headed impulsive Noble forced to the outer reaches of the Empire from Central taldor after losing one too many duels his name was Baron Syrian or as he preferred it the sword Baron after the provincial capital of New stethven suffered a number of brutal attacks from Bandit Lords to the South Baron aldori accepted a challenge from the ruling Bandit Lord at the end of the year to a duel for the future of the province however the sword Baron was unable to best the Bandit King and he honored his word ending the provincial governorship over to the Bandit paying his dues and disappearing most assumed he was gone for good too embarrassed to show his face after his defeat however nine years later he returned to nustetvin in 3044 Baron aldori returned a changed man older wiser and more skilled aldori challenged the new governor to a rematch the Bandit King heartily agreed but aldori defeated him handily in seconds he followed this with a standing offer of one hundred thousand gold pieces as a reward for any who could best him in a battle of blades none could defeat him whether through legitimate means or trickery or magic Not only was aldori extremely skilled but he used a technique and a sword that none were familiar with at first aldori refused to teach any of his techniques but he eventually capitulated and began to train a select group of Swordsmen under certain stipulations these conditions ensured that each student swore to change their name to aldori never teach their techniques to any outside the eldori sword pact and were sworn to uphold a secret pact of Honor these Swordsmen became known as The eldori Sword Lords and they would rule Rossland for Generations each as prickly and impulsive as the order's founder meanwhile back in ayabaria in 3150 the final nail in the coffin of the kingdom of ayabaria was yet another plague the pestilentropy infected many Nomads and settlers in central ayabaria causing fevers and Madness ultimately leading to death by over-exertion or by the blades of those its victims imagined to be their Furs the disease or its manic side effects destroyed more than half of ayabaria's farms Villages crops and cattle leading to a decade of lean harvests and starvation for the region this Devastation and the lack of support for the people led to the final dissolution of the ayabarian rule the last king died and there was no successor after the pastel entropy it took half a century before anyone had the confidence or the will to attempt to reunite the land when it did finally occur in 3212 it was not one individual as it had been before three separate Warlords including one hailing from the occupied talban province of isia and their allies banded together to restore the nation of ayabaria it was no small feat local Warlords and Bandit Kings had secured a good deal of power over the last 60 years however and the restoration War lasted for nearly a century before ayabaria officially re-emerged as a polity at the end of the restoration War there was a short but vicious power struggle between the various factions that had United their forces to unify the land and the ultimate winner of that was Prince irol of house arjal whose house would become the ruling dynasty of the new ayabaria for hundreds of years irel's ultimate Ascension was secured in 3283 when he betrayed his longtime Ally house narciss in order to secure an allegiance with a number of red and white dragons that dwelt in the mountains by offering the dragons a Living Sacrifice in the form of house narcus's leaders and Soldiers the dragons would become the enforcers of house arjal's rule later Prince erroll would also enter into a feud with its other former Ally house Korea which resulted in house Korea and its allies fleeing West into brevoy where some of their descendants can still be found in 3304 Prince erroll was crowned King irol the first of house arjal and moved the capital of ayobaria from orlov to antol that year he also turned control and domain of all the old Cyclops ruins to their white and red dragon allies the final terms of his Allegiance with them between 3679 and 4001 the war of the great horde occurred despite King iral and house arjal's Alliance with the sir zemian dragons the forces of house arjal were put to the test when an alliance of giants set their sights on ayabaria a great Cyclops King named berlor possessed of two powerful artifacts that augmented his already great strength in Charisma the mall of peribov and the crown of mirim assembled a vast Army of Cyclops ogres and Hill Giants although the great horde was fought to a standstill outside the city of orlov in the middle period of the war the giant forces were bolstered by Frost giant forces from the ice steps that emerge from the blizzards of the North during a long and especially harsh winter although house arjal managed to ultimately fend off the giant Onslaught this costly War both drained it of its resources and ultimately broke its alliance with the sir zemian dragons who also suffered greatly during the war in the long run this would begin to break house arjile's hold on power in the in 4081 the talden Empire collapsed the Western half of the Empire Imperial cheliacs would emerge as the dominant power in Southwestern avastan in the Northeast however the river kingdoms would become independent nation-states in their own right similarly the talden provinces of Rosland and isia became independent countries ruled by the surtova and the aldori families respectively with The Disappearance of talden oversight in the region the natural animosity between the houses of surtova and aldori grew hot over the next 400 years Rossland and isia would intermittently go to war with each other swapping lands along their hotly contested border however as we'll see the conflict between these two nations would never properly come to a head but to understand why we have to look East again in ayabaria as stated earlier as a result of the damage wrought by the war of the great horde the ruling house arjal which held the United Kingdom together was weakening its grip on the land stretched thin and running out of resources numerous emerging Powers were starting to threaten house arjal for Dominion one of these individuals was a charismatic fair-haired man from kiria named Coral of house regarvia whose influences were spreading throughout the region like house Argyle of old Carl managed to secure an alliance with a number of the Red Dragons that dwelt in the sirsemian mountains where kyria is located as House arjal Began to assemble its own forces and allies to confront the upstart warlord Coral regarvia himself thought better of engaging with house arjal for power in ayabaria instead he turned his attention West he marched his army across the Delta beneath the soreth wood and rounded the ice Rhine Peaks and entered into bravoy in 4499 his army was camped to the north edge of the ice Rime Peaks on the banks of the lake of Mists and veils and he sent a summons to Lord Nico surtova the high Lord of isia seeing the great size of the army Carl regarvia had assembled not to mention the dragons that accompanied them made the Wily Lord Nicos realize he would have to find terms the two men staked out a truce that was bound with the promise of nicos's daughter Mirna sertova in marriage to Coral in the agreement isia's ruling house surtova kept much of its power and wealth while they would serve as vassals under Coral's leadership Carl regarvia then attempted to do the same thing with the aldory sword Lords of Southern Rossland however the sword Lords did not agree to peace with coral and were defeated by a pair of Carl's red dragon allies at the Valley of Fire after this only The Fortress of Skywatch continued to resist Carl's dominance but even this Bastion of the aldori fell a few years later when Carl and his dragons arrived and burnt the castle to the ground with his victory complete Carl showed interest in the observatory and ordered the structure be Unearthed and restored by 4503 Carl had United all the lands of these two Nations under his Banner as the new nation of bravoy and placed the capital of the country in the old Rossland capital of nustetvin it is said that Carl the Conqueror spent most of the time he had ruling from the dragon scale Throne at the Ruby Fortress in ustedven amassing wealth and only leaving eustetven to harshly punish disloyal vassals his people rarely saw him and viewed him as a remote and terrifying figure however abruptly in 4509 Carl and his red dragon allies disappeared leaving his Descendants the young princes of house regarvia to rule brevoy it is not known where Coral went when he abandoned his throne but rumors suggested that he disappeared into the depths of the granzi forest and that he swore he would return When the time was right even though this was 200 years ago recent discoveries suggest that Carl himself may actually still be alive the reason for this is that in recent years a box made from authentic red dragon scales and sealed with the crest of house regavia was recently discovered in the lake of Mists and veils by the half-elven archivist nephira inside it were numerous papers documenting dragon sightings and attacks all of which matched times when Carl was known to have been present in brevoy and the Royal Red Dragons were known to have been absent these letters provided some evidence that Carl was not human as the historical records claimed but was himself a red dragon if that's the case 200 years is well within a dragon's lifespan and Carl May well return someday on the other hand it's clear from the historical record that Carl the Conqueror himself had grown quickly bored with the duties of rulership when he had it and that might well explain his abrupt departure though no one knows for sure speaking of dragons in 4519 not long after Carl abdicated the Throne of bravoy another strange Affliction struck the land but this time it only affected dragons the Drake plague as it was called proceeded to kill more than half of the Dragon population within three months before the end of that year the Silver Dragon cathethriane supported by Druids from the finedar forest were able to perform a ritual to end the plague before it spread Beyond ayabaria but they did so at the cost of that dragon's life in 4606 gallerian experienced the series of events known as the death of Prophecy including the death of the god Eridan and more significantly in this part of the world the opening of the world wound in Sarco Chris sarkorian barbarians were forced to flee the expanding World wound and a number of Khalid tribes entered bravoy on mass while many others desperate to get even further away cross the polar ice to ayabaria in 4607 sarcorian khalids not finding a ready welcome in ayabaria banded together and conquered the city of mavradia this would be the first of many dominoes to fall leading to mass infighting across the entire country in 4622 the Church of aradon reeling from the death of its Patron sought for an effort to convert the remaining followers of the Fallen God into a righteous path that might unify them their plan to initiate a great Crusade against the demon spilling forth from the world wound an event they blamed for and associated with the death of their god with the support of the Church of ayomide thousands of Crusaders flooded into mendev the First Crusade would last for eight years from 4622 to 4630 and so many disillusioned aerodynites and newly converted ayamideans came into the nation of mendev that it effectively resulted in the transformation of mendev into a militant Crusader state The Crusade was successful at first but the demons eventually began striking back the Crusaders reinforced and fortified the mendevian capital city of nerosian and the City of kennebress they also established the Fortress of Dresden in the northern reaches of the world wound but in 4638 drezen fell to demonic forces the loss of Dresden led to the launch of the Second vendevian Crusade which lasted from 4638 to 4645. in this Crusade magical barriers called wardstones were built along the Southern and Eastern borders of the world wound to contain the Demon's advancement and influence in 4659 the last king of hausarjal was assassinated the former capital of antol was conquered by a banded King from the nearby city of vecca with no ties to the old nobility the former aristocracy of ayabaria was reduced to the now isolated cities of cridoran mern bay and orlov each of whose rulers held equal claim to be true ruler and heir of ayabaria due to Blood Ties to the dead Kings though perhaps none so cleanly as House rukov of murn bay whose lineage descended directly from hausarjal unfortunately for house rukov their own hold on the city of mirn bay was complicated as they LED an alliance of noble houses there and had only tenuous Direct Control on the city and they were never able to get into a position with enough leverage to make a claim on the entire country meanwhile in mendev the Third mendevian Crusade kicked off in 4665 but this time the demons change tactics using infiltration sub version and Corruption to undermine their opponents the Crusaders suffered many defeats and witch hunts against suspected demonic cultists and other traitors became commonplace to make up for the shortfallen men new recruits were drawn from among convicted prisoners rather than from among those with righteous belief as enthusiasm waned the Third mendevian Crusade petered out a mere three years after it had begun in 4667 just south of the river Kingdoms in a nation not represented in this close-up map the red revolution occurred in Galt the galtish nobility were forced to gather their wealth and go into hiding as discussed in my River kingdoms video many galtish Nobles made their way there especially in the specific kingdoms of gralton and liberthane but many goldish Nobles also found the river kingdoms too rough for their taste after all the sixth River Freedom you have what you hold more or less codified robbery into law essentially any Noble galtish person that could not protect his own wealth was liable to be robbed most therefore moved on typically further north in bravoy the goldish nobility found a land slightly more to their liking but here the ruling house regavia had a total Stranglehold on Power and their Draconian laws didn't permit the formation of new wealthy Noble or merchant-class families to set up shop in the Kingdom restricting power to the seven major houses that dwelled in that land since before even the coming of the taldons it wasn't really until the exiled goldish nobility reached ayabaria the land whose Central monarchy had melted down as a result of war and disease that they found a place where they could Thrive and put their wealth to good use the vast majority of these goldish Nobles eventually made their way to the port city of mirn bay the largest city in the region mernbe already had 17 Noble houses jockeying for power without a clear leader among them saved perhaps for the much diminished house rukov who could trace their lineage back to house arjal in the six years since the Goldfish began to emigrate here the migration has been so significant that the city now counts 22 great house is with five of them being the houses of fabulously wealthy Galton Lords who have already managed to rebuild much of their fortune and influence here in 4692 a new demon leader karams a day the Storm King emerged in the world wound and did significant damage to the Cannabis wardstone this event triggered the Fourth Crusade the longest and most exhausting of the Crusades when it finally ended it was due to dwindling resources and fatigue on the part of the Crusaders in early 4699 a strange event known as The Vanishing occurred in the nation of bravoy this event saw King ertzenegarvia disappear in fact every member of the ruling house regardia vanished Without a Trace leaving the country to be fought over by other feuding Noble houses house regavia had previously ruled the unified nation of Breville for 200 years from the dragon scale throne but in their absence house surtova took over as the ruling Dynasty King noleski sertova currently Reigns from the Ruby Fortress in eustetven despite over a decade passing no explanation for the fate of house regardia has ever been discovered finally in 4718 the fifth mendevian crusade kicked off in a series of events played out in the Wrath of the righteous Adventure path The Crusade is sparked by demonic assault on cannabres after which a small band of Heroes enter the world wound slay the Demon Lord discari and seal it following the closure of the world wound in 4718 queen golfri of mendev led the assault on the now trapped demons and brought a glorious end to the fifth mendevian crusade following this Godfrey stepped down as mendev's leader and named Crusader Knight irahai now Chancellor irahai as her successor and asked her not to hold the seat in permanence but to oversee a transition to a civilian mendevian government then Queen Godfrey Departed the mortal world altogether ascended to the heavens and has moved on to become the goddess ayamide's new Herald this brings us to today the three major ayabarian city-states mendev bravoy and ayabaria all share some similarities they have all undergone significant amounts of recent hardship and are in a period of renewal mendev went from a Backwater ayabarian colony to a crusader nation state a hundred years ago when the Whirlwind opened up however only five years ago now Heroes managed to seal the world wound now the Crusaders and the money the various churches that sponsored those Crusades had brought with them are leaving the country in droves to go and deal with other problems throughout the land when mendev stops being a crusader Nation what kind of nation does it become of all the nations in the region their future is perhaps the most murky Crusader Knight erahai was originally a thuvian national raised among the ayoma Dayan clergy who eventually became a logistics administrator for the Crusades when the world wound was closed irahai was appointed by the queen to oversee the transition to a civilian government as Chancellor one of irahai's first acts had been to establish the mendevian delegation a parliamentary body representing the interests of the people her current focus is on redistributing much of mendev's wealth which has long been held in trust by the Crusaders to its rightful owners however this task is Complicated by a lack of written records intermarriage between Crusaders and the local people as well as various instances of demonic corruption that disqualify certain claims to inheritance there is also the matter of there being two different people effectively claiming right to the land the ayabarian mendevians and the sarkorian kellids who possess radically different cultures and laws despite her good intentions irahai has encountered difficulties due to conflicting claims to the land she has already misplaced trust in individuals such as for example to the sarkorian shaman lokalat who made false claims about his people's traditions on certain hunting grounds and ownership of some valuables which he claimed before disappearing in the last year Ira Hai has also accepted the help of the magambaya academy represented by Envoy genatimo but she is more wary of trust right now in addition irahai worries about the lack of basic infrastructure and National budget in mendev as most of its assets were built for military purposes and many of the Crusaders Who provided material support have departed these issues keep her and the nation's citizens regardless of whether they be ayabari and Khalid or other migrant ethnicities awake at night brevoy has similarly undergone a very recent change of leadership brevoy was United by Carl the Conqueror now presumed by many to have been a red dragon shape-shifted as a human warlord 200 years ago however 20 years ago Erza nagarvia the last king of his house was not found in his bed chambers that morning nor could his wife and children be located in the next few weeks those governing in the capital of New stethvin would come to find that not even his various cousins nieces and nephews could be located in a single day the entire ruling family of bravoy disappeared and no one has any idea why it happened or where they went this event is now being called The Vanishing and not surprisingly there was a succession crisis there were six other noble families that could trace lineage back to ayobar the great the pre-taldan king from which all Noble ayabarians can trace dissent these great houses sequence geographically are house surtova whose ancestral seat of power is Port ice hausertova is known to have made their money through piracy and raiding along the banks of the great lake and along the lengths of the Selen River even today one of the more active pirates of the lake of Mists and veils Captain Valley dobos is rumored to have a close connection with the sertovas although he keeps his lineage hidden the head of the house is neleski sertova their heraldic Crest is a gray ship in front of fields of blue on the lower half and black with silver stars on the upper half their house words are ours is the right moving East house lodovka is a noble family of brevoy with their headquarters on a Cuban Isle on the lake of Mists and veils where they hold the impressive city of winter break they have traditionally been a significant power on the lake led by Lord Kozak lodovka both their Fleet size and influence along the lake have continued to increase the family's primary industry is seafood and they catch fish freshwater crabs and Lamprey eels which are Delicacies across the region The house's Crest includes a green crab climbing out of the water towards a gray Tower or keep their motto is the waters our fields is based on the western part of bravoy commanding the area surrounding the golishkin mountains from their Dwarven engineered holdfast of greyhaven house Garris has long held a special relationship with the golca dwarves who lived both deep in the mountains and in the Dwarven surface hold of heidelve they've held this special relationship since before the coming of the taldons and so their lands have always remained secure it is currently led by Lord Howland Garris who has been robbed of much in recent years he is a widower now as his wife succumbed to an unknown malady his only son who howlan had spent much effort to arrange a marriage for with lesser members of the previous ruling house regardia disappeared in the vanishing along with his fiancee finally in conjunction with the vanishing the tunnels leading to the underground golca Holdings mysteriously collapsed sealing in the High King of the golca dwarves no magical means to clear the collapse or means of divination or communication with the buried dwarves have revealed what has happened to them one might expect Holland to succumb to bereavement under such difficult circumstances but he has remained strong additionally the dwarf king's youngest son survived the golca collapse as he had been living among the surface dwarves of high delv and so Lord Howland has made the unusual choice of adopting the dwarf Prince as his Ward Lord Howland believes Prince tolva galkin will need mentoring and rule that his late father will no longer be able to provide Lord Howland and Prince tolva are now trying to uncover what happened to the underground dwarfholds while also anticipating the political movements of the other great human houses of bravoy House garrus's Crest is that of a snow-capped mountain peak in Gray set against a dark blue field there is a silvery crescent moon in the upper right corner and there is a black hammer across the base of the peak The house's motto is strong as the mountains East again house orlovsky controls Northeastern brevoy from eagles watch on Mount veshka though they try to rise above the squabbling of other houses they were also staunch allies of the now disappeared house regavia which has landed them in a prickly situation in the current climate Lord Paul orlovsky is head of house orlovsky though much of his diplomacy abroad is carried out by his niece lady sylvana orlovsky who is also the captain of house orlovsky's forces their house crest is a Black Eagle with wings spread in front of a gold field and their motto is high above house labeda controls the Western half of what was once the United Kingdom of Rossland they typify the former ruling powers of Rossland having significant talented blood and an appreciation for fine things especially wine and sword fighting their ancestral Fortress silver Hall overlooks Lake recall and controls the shipping on the lake and their business of being Brokers and Merchants linking the North and south of bravois has made them quite rich house labeda has changed hands frequently over the last few years when her husband passed Dame sirona libada ruled as Regent until her eldest son Lander came of age after which Lord Lander Lebeda ruled in silver Hall but as he is currently in Exile his older sister Ilana has now taken over rulership of the house the labeta house crest is a swan sitting on water with the sun in the Horizon depending on how the house fares the people say the sun is either rising or setting house Medved holds sway over the Eastern territories around the granzi forest they adhere to an older druidic way of life they refer to as the old way and they Revere nature Lord gurev Medved rules the house from their castles in the foothills of the ice Rhine Peaks called Stone climb the inhabitants of this region raise mountain goats and sheep hunt in the forest and cultivate The Limited arable land on the outskirts of their domains while erastel is the primary religion in the area there are also rumors of concealed shrines dedicated to lamashtu their house emblem features a black bear with black antlers over its head against the red backdrop their motto is endurance overcomes all finally the Eastern portion of the Old Kingdom of Rossland had been until recently controlled by house ragarvia the descendants of Carl the Conqueror whose heraldry featured a two-headed red dragon and whose house motto was with sword and Flame however since The Disappearance of that entire house the land has become part of a larger power struggle in the region one more faction is worth noting however as I discussed in my River Kingdom's Deep dive video the house aldori sword Lords and their allies fled South to the river Kingdom when Coral conquered Rossland in the river Kingdom's house aldori established the country of miven and the current ruling sword Lord of miven is a shrewd man named rastan Celine his country is home to no fewer than nine major brevik houses who fled the country and these nine houses are known as the houses in Exile and each of them are now wondering if now is the time to make a return to their ancestral country since the politics have gotten so shaken up I should also note that there are a small handful of houses in Exile located in mendev as well though these have shown less interest in returning to either brevoy or ayabaria than the milvenis have let's take a more detailed look at the last couple of years here to catch up on local politics first shortly after The Disappearance there was a mad Scramble for power the winner of this power struggle wasn't the wealthiest of the noble houses which is currently house libada followed closely by house gares despite its setbacks due to the collapse of their mining tunnels nor was it the house with the greatest army which is arguably the vast Fleet of house ludovka or the extensive Cavalry of house orlovsky rather it was the cleverest and most politically minded of the houses house surtova it occurred something like this Lord nowleski the head of house certova had been a bachelor for many years despite pressure to marry and produce an heir for the house in the wake of the vanishing Lord neleski and his clever sister natala certova saw an opportunity to preempt the war they offered a prospective alliance between house certova and house labeda that would have symbolically United north and south and brought much needed stability to fractured brevoy Lord nowleski sertova would be crowned King and Ilana Lebeda would be his Queen in this way both northern and southern halves of the country would share some of the power although the sertova family would hold the greater power on account of the patriarchal structure of the Breivik monarchy the labeta family would also be able to slowly reclaim some of the Southern Holdings that had been in the possession of house regardio this seemed like a fair compromise and it was with tactics like this that the less wealthy and less well-provisioned how surtova was able to acquire the monarchy Lord nowleski was crowned in 4700 as the new king of brevoy or more completely the high Lord of Isiah and Rossland Souza reign of nustetven Overlord of restov defender of the lake of Mists and Vale Regent of the dragon scale Throne blood of the Conqueror and rightful King of the United Kingdom of brevoy however the wedding of king noleski of house certova and Lady Alana of house labeda dragged on for years and years with various reasons being cited for the delay of the nuptials such as having to secure the borders or deal with banded Raiders to make sure the king's position was on a secure footing before the kingdom would welcome the wedding with each of these delaying tactics being able to be reasonably tied back to the machinations of lady natala sertova finally the date was set for the spring of 47 18. now just five years ago but the wedding once again never came to pass natala sertova gave a public speech days before the wedding formally accusing Lord Lander labeta of treason Lord Lander only escaped public execution by disappearing because of the Scandal the wedding never happened and Lady Alana returned home in humiliation by this time of course the surtova had secured much of their power and most of the brevik nobility believed or claimed to believe the sirtoven accusations the notable exception were members of house orlovsky who claimed that the facts supporting the purported treason were contradictory and unclear encountered that this was most likely surtoven propaganda this has caused a significant fracture between the houses of surtova and orlovsky one that threatens to escalate into armed confrontation especially should the sirtovens move publicly against the lebaden Holdings in Rossland since this event Ilana has been running the interests of house libada from Silver Hall particularly Shoring up her defenses waiting for the day the sirtovens deploy forces against her as for Lord Lander no one is quite sure what happened to him but rumors persist that he traveled south to miven to gather an army for himself so that he might return and retake Rossland and potentially even end the rule of the traitor King in the capital King neleski remains a bachelor and rumors abound here as well with some calling his sister natala the Puppeteer queen and the real power behind the throne as king neleski is getting older with each passing year some worry that he'll never have any heirs and if he dies without one the country May soon descend into a succession crisis all over again now at the top of this video I mentioned that the ayabarians seem to me to be influenced by the Kiev and risk people of the real world having been descended from a mix of Nordic and Eastern Augustine people but it should also be very obvious by now that there is another pretty significant influence at play here I'm of course referring to Game of Thrones by George RR Martin to briefly recap brevoy was a country conquered by an army whose power came from their dragons but the previous regime has disappeared and now the wiliest and most ruthless of the families have managed to secure a tenuous control of the throne the links are obvious if you enjoyed the books of the show this could be a fun place to set a game in and let your player players enjoy that kind of tone finally let's discuss ayabaria bravoy's even Messier older brother ayabaria is the original Nation from which many of the citizens of both bravoy and mendev hail from but they've been harried by plague and War for so long that their country's original Power structure has almost completely dissolved as of about 65 years ago there has no longer been a ruling Monarch in the country now three cities have effectively become independent city-states and these are cridor and mernbe and orlov each of whose rulers hold equal claim to be the true ruler and heir of ayabaria due to their respective Blood Ties to dead Kings if Breville is a powder keg ready to erupt then ayabaria is one that has already erupted with each of its Myriad Noble houses desperately trying to position themselves to hold power in the aftermath of that ruin the most significant of these houses include house Korea of orlov House evias of cridorn and the houses rukov and zagi of mernbei but the noble houses are not the the only ones vying for power here various self-made banded kings are like King rule of Vecchia as well as non-human Powers including the various Centaur tribes that dominate the country's interior as well as the giant survivors of the Cyclops came berlor's great horde should the Giants ever unify again there is no United Force to protect the country this time finally despite the Drake plague in the sirsemian mountains and other places powerful chromatic dragons still Roost which at various times have been closely invested in the power dynamics of the human Nations that formed around their rugged domains let's not forget the recent discoveries made around the nature of coral the Conqueror himself that he might be a red dragon and still alive and no one knows what his ultimate Ambitions may be all three of these nations are on the precipice of great change their future is uncertain but there will be great struggles ahead a perfect time for Heroes of renown to appear and shape their Destinies important locations in mendev the ice Rift Castle during the First mendevian Crusade the government of mendev decided to establish a stronghold on its northern border with a whirlwind as a result work began on building ice Rift castle at the source of the West Sullen river near the crown of the world before the castle was finished however a party of soldiers was sent North to help escort home some of the construction crew in their guards only to find that they had all been slaughtered and their hearts removed today it is rumored that a tribe of wikawacks a race of Arctic bug Bears has occupied ice Rift Castle led by their Shaman ugmatoc the new Lords of the castle worship an ancient wendigo that might have been the entity that caused the death of its original inhabitants nearly a century ago is a large fortified City the third largest in mendev and effectively the furthest and most populated Outpost of the Crusaders situated on the border of the world wound it has gained notoriety not only as a Vanguard for the war but also following the Demonic Insurgent tactics of the Third Crusade as the Hub of a radical faction of iomedayans led by an elderly Zealot named hulrun shapok whose notorious witch hunts aimed at identifying any demonic influence in the populace have had significant collateral damage kennebress was also the site of the attack that triggered the fifth and final mendevian Crusade and the city was so Shattered by this attack that it is still very much recovering since the victory in the world wound the newly formed order of the Heralds has made significant progress in cleaning up the city and incurbing the worst impulses of hulrun's faction of inquisitors many people hope that these will completely disappear now that the world wound is closed and that whole roon himself has passed away is a city constructed across multiple tiers that gradually ascend from the Eastern Plains its Western Edge borders a cliff overlooking the West Sullen river which serves as the primary water source for the city over time the population increase transformed the town into a city with four distinct districts old cannabrese the original town is home to the city's oldest lineages and administrative buildings the ring District which surrounds old cannabrese is the second tier of the city and was also part of the original Town new cannabras was established as a safe haven for refugees from Lost settlements after the opening of the world wound the gate District was constructed a decade later due to the population growth of new cannabrese and is now the largest District in the city although True Stone Quarry lies about 10 miles to the east of the city it was historically vital that can abreza's survival the Quarry sent Caravans weekly to Southgate to supply stone for reinforcing the city's defenses daunton daunton is a small rural Village just east of kenebress Mayor Tobias Lewin a thick-chested halfling with white braided hair is the governor and Sheriff of daunton during his two years of service in the Crusades he lost his family to raids and his friends on missions emotionally and physically exhausted he returned to daunton to live out his life as a farmer but the villagers recognized him as a hero and soon elected him mayor and sheriff daunton is also the site of the Pathfinder Society Adventure scars of the Third Crusade neurosian neurosian is the capital city of mendev and it sits at the convergence of the West Salem and egosi River the city's western and southern walls are hugged by these Rivers while the land gradually Rises towards the Northeast before dropping off again just past the northeastern wall nerosian is known as the diamond of the north due to its 20-foot thick straight edged walls that form a diamond shape the city has well-planned Avenues and interior walls that support the outer walls in case of an attack the cruciform cathedral is located at the center of the city and the inner walls divide the city into four easily defendable districts that are wide enough for Knights to ride across Chancellor irahai currently rules all of mendev from the cruciform but has more direct control over neurosian and its surrounding areas now that the crusades have ended her attention is towards an orderly transition from a military state to a civilian State trying to unwind the complicated claims of ownership on the land from before the beginning of the Crusades she has left many of the day-to-day matters of Civic governance to her Council which is divided into two factions one led by Lord Inquisitor kasori and the other led by captain jaspar of the Crusader Heralds Lord kasori wants to maintain ayamide and Orthodoxy in mendev and to keep it a pure State while Captain jaspar wants to just make sure the values and interests of mendev's native peoples are respected for over a hundred years nerosian's primary focus has been war and as such it has depended on supplies and material in the same way most cities rely on trade the city has little support from its Hinterlands due to the threat of Abyssal incursions but it makes up for this with regular shipments coming from countries far and wide any shortages in these supplies were filled by profiteers eager to make money from a city that relied so heavily on its long supply lines the fresh water for the capital city of neurosian is sourced from the river ecclesi and the Abundant Fisheries along the river provide food for its population however the most crucial aspect of the river is the unique mineral called nexovar that collects in its silt this mineral acts as a countermeasure against the corrupting influence of the world wound as a result the southern part of the Selen River remains uncorrupted and no aquatic demons can swim down its lengths to reach the neighboring lands of the Inner Sea without the presence of the egosi river it's hard to imagine how far the Demonic taint could have spread nexavar is so effective at halting corruption that it was used in constructing the wardstones that helped contain the expanding World wound nerosian is divided into four districts each with three or four smaller neighborhoods the battle District in the Northeast was entirely constructed during the First Crusade it includes battle row Crusader row and low row the eagle sea District in the Southeast includes egosi Pilgrim's rest and rustwell the Confluence District in the Southwest is the oldest district and includes the windings the two seas coopertown and Riverside The woundward District in the Northwest includes the districts of bitter wind high side tumble town and banner Brite there are several important sites in erosion as well the battle tower is the northernmost point and the most heavily fortified site in mendev the cruciform cathedral is both a site of worship and an integral part of the city's defensive systems the egosi tower serves as a rapid response staging area for narosian's Cavalry the selling docks or stone quays carved into the Bedrock along the Riverside Star Rise Spire acts as a Beacon of Hope and a final warning to any demons foolish enough to attack the city finally the woundward tower bristles with spy glasses that scan the skies as well as containing the most advanced Siege engines and the best archers in neurosian the city's own wardstone is also housed in this Tower as close to the Border as possible a Lunas and Lac throat the wall towns of a Lunas and Lac throat are stopping points along the egosi river and although technically in Northern numeria because the opposite banks are too densely forested to build structures they hold fealty to nerosian and the mendevians these townships have been attractive targets for numerian colored Raiders since they were first established and this has bred a hard and calloused populace known today as Havens for never do Wells and mercenaries the citizens of these towns take pride in their independence and have also become known for being a people comfortable indulging in their own vices perhaps a strange sense of earned privilege by being a part of the critical supply chain in the Crusader nation lachthroat is also reputed for being visited by the strange beings known as the Hearn of the Estroven Forest the Hearn appear to be humans except for the stagh horns growing from their forehead and it is unknown whether they are haunting Spirits or mischievous Fae one thing we do know though is that the Heron fiercely protect the yes driven Forest Tamal Tamal the pillar city was an ancient colored settlement in the Estroven Forest constructed with the help of the elves prior to Earth fall it still contains the ancient and functioning edelon gate which connects the site to the Elven Kingdom of keonin and therefore many other Elven power centers however the elves have not made use of this gate in Generations as the site of Tamal is now controlled by a civilization of sphinx-like creatures called the maftets who have sworn fealty to the city's Master a powerful Avatar of the old sarcorean God called igrir Sky main for now even the descendants of the sarkorian kelletts who once worshiped agrier are no longer welcomed in the maftat city is a port city situated on the lake of Mists and veils and the second largest city in mendev as The Logical entry point for those reaching mendev by sea it was the first stop for most Crusaders during the mendevian Crusades trade from neighboring Nations especially bravoy and ayabaria flows into mendev through agede during the Crusades the city served as a place of rest for exhausted soldiers and also played a significant role in the war however some of the cultural hardness of the other River Cities like alunas and Lac throat have started to seep into egede as well and there are concerns being raised by the city's large and influential ayamidean church about the city becoming a hub of debauchery and sin due to its growing industry trade and business aguede was also the location of aridan's victory over the Demon Lord cholerus whom he faced in this land about a hundred years before his disappearance on the death of Prophecy so naturally it has always been a city controlled by the very devout even before the Crusades after the Crusades the many vast temples of aridan were slowly converted over to worship of ayamide the people of aguede celebrate the anniversary of aridan's battle with cholerus as the drowning day for aridan was said to have drowned the demon in the lake of Mists and veils this event is typified by mock violent drownings which many Outsiders find disturbing in addition to its influential ayomide and clergy worship of Gorham became popular due to the constant state of war in mendev during the Crusades and in more recent times the worship of nocticular the Redeemer Queen has also been on the rise as well important locations in brevoy Port ice Port ice is the ancestral seat of power of hausertova situated on the cold banks of the Great Lake Port ice is often overcome by ice and snow in the winter months and sits closed only visited occasionally until the Spring's thaw the summer months are spent frantically stockpiling supplies for the next winter King noleski's Uncle Domani surtova serves in the White Manor as Port Ice's current caretaker Gray Haven and heidelve Gray Haven is the seat of power of house gares who control the land around the golishkin mountains when housekaras first came to these lands during the Great ayabarian Exodus of the early 3000s they built a close and friendly relationship with the golca dwarves who happily let them settle in the mountains and surrounding Hills as most of their settlements were deep underground they even lent their skilled craftsmanship to reinforcing the walls of greyhaven keep and let them settle in their only above-ground Dwarven settlement in the region the city of hydelv greyhaven remains a mostly human settlement while hydel has since become a mixed human and Dwarven settlement since the vanishing 20 years ago the dwarf tunnels collapsed and the fate of the majority of the golca dwarves remains uncertain the strange Stone containing the collapse has proved impassable with both technology and Magic now the prince of the golca dwarves resides in greyhaven where he serves as the ward of Lord Hall and Gilles and he and the other dwarves of heidelve seek desperately to discover what happened to the rest of their kinsfolk so does house geless as much of their wealth was grown from Dwarven mining in the mountains heidelve is also the setting of The Standalone Pathfinder module Adventure Heroes for high delve Jamaica although seemingly in the domain of house garesh zamaica is actually governed by sylvana orlovsky Silvana orlovsky is the niece of Lord Paul orlovsky the ruling Lord of hauserlovsky she is the captain of her House's forces and she often acts as her uncle's Ambassador further afield sylvana is a skilled horse woman and known for her ability at jousting she rides her Steed silvermane whom she cares for herself at the Stables its maker Silvana has a deep mistrust of hausertova and like most Nobles of her house has long been a supporter of the now disappeared house regavia indeed she was engaged to a member of House regardia from birth until the vanishing intervened and overturned that plan she is also known the noble Lander labeda as a friend since childhood and may be one of the few people who truly knows where the exiled Lord is lying low winter break winter break is the seat of power of house lodovka situated on the acuben Isle surrounded by the freezing fogs of the lake of Mists and Vale winter break is a bleak keep that breeds hearty but dour seafaring warriors house lodovka has the largest Fleet in brevoy and their corsairs are reckoned to be among the fiercest soldiers in the land eagles watch Eagles watches the seat of power of house orlovsky built high upon the sides of Mount veshka it is presumed to be an impregnable keep as the commanders of the vast Hill lands between zamaica and the Skywatch built into the ice Rime Hills how solovsky maintains a long tradition of breeding rugged horses and commands a powerful cavalry silver Hall silver Hall is the seat of power of house labeda and is located on the ozera river in bravois just before the river empties into Lake recall it is currently ruled by Lady Alana as her older brother Lord Lander Lebeda was forced to flee the capital of New stethven the night prior to the proposed wedding between lady Alana and King neleski sertova to avoid execution at the hands of the sirtovens he has remained in hiding ever since silver Hall has become increasingly militarized after Ilana returned and she has been fortifying herself within the city fearing that any year now King noleski might bring an army to Bear to take the lebadan capital by force located on the Southern Bank of Lake recall was made the capital of the new nation of Breville by the warlord Carl the Conqueror in 4499 after unifying the separate nations of isia and Rosland under his Rule and has served as the seat of power in Breville ever since today newstead fan is a bustling trade Hub exporting brevoy's abundant supply of grain fish Timber and ore to other Northern kingdoms such as mendev and ayobaria and down the East Selen River To The River kingdoms the food from Rossland is crucial to sustain many of the northern Realms where farming is challenging due to constant Bandit raids or invading demonic armies in return newstead fans Rough and Tumble marketplaces offer exotic imports from all corners of avastan and Beyond such as rare numerian Sky metals and ancient assyriani relics although it can get quite warm in the summer months for most of the Year snow and slush transform the streets of New stethvan into muddy paths as the city of wooden palaces new stethfen has made extensive use of wood and constructing everything from houses to streets to Forts due to the numerous wooden structures within its walls the city is several volunteer fire brigades that protect its buildings and citizens take great pride in joining these brigades only two notable stone structures exist in ustetfen the Ruby Fortress where the dragon scale Throne sits and the bulwark of Gorham a temple to the Lord of iron Skywatch originally an outpost built by house certova around an observatory Skywatch was taken by house aldori during one of isia's many conflicts with rosslins in the early four thousands after Carl the Conqueror United both Nations however he defeated the aldori Loyalists and destroyed the Fortress Excavating an ancient pre-human observatory in the process strangely on the same day in 4699 that every member of House regardia disappeared Skywatch sealed itself off from all Outsiders including Supply Caravans since that day no message sent to Skywatch has received a response an even powerful divination magic fails to penetrate the city's ancient walls just as was the case for the holds of the golca dwarves in the golishkin mountains nobody knows what has happened inside the great Observatory at Skywatch ever since Stone climb Stone climb is a rugged Fortress built into the natural Cliff face along the Eastern side of the ice Rhine Peaks it lies just south of Skywatch and it is in the north of the lands ruled by house Medved it is also their capital and seat of power from Warehouse Medved live and Rule brunderton the mining town of brunerton in eastern Rossland in brevoy was settled by dwarves likely from the golishkin mountains originally before most of the human settlements came to the region because of the surrounding area's abundance of gems and ore they have been separated from the rest of the golca dwarfs for so long though that they can be considered a distinct Dwarven group in the region the brunerton dwarves are more prone to Travel and Adventure than most of their Kindred and so most dwarfs throughout Southern brevoy and the Northern River kingdoms have relatives from here and Gem and or Traders from branderton can often be found peddling their Wares along the selins many towns and tributaries restov as bravoy's Southernmost city and seated on the edges of the Fertile River Kingdom the large city of restov has both the most Pleasant climate and the most arable land in the region it is therefore not surprisingly one of the largest and wealthiest cities in the country it is sometimes referred to as the free City and although restov owes its allegiance to the brevik crown and its Lord mayor Joseph salemius must bend the knee to the dragon scale Throne the city is not beholden to any Noble House the aldori Lords who fled to miven were never replaced and though 20 years ago the city had its fair share of lesser Nobles from the ruling regardia Dynasty who wish to keep tabs on the place those two have disappeared today restov serves as a sanctuary for those who long for the old eldori sword Lords days and the time before Carl the conqueror's arrival the city is a unique blend of refinement and roughness as it fondly remembers its former Lords restov is a thriving trading Hub on the border with the river kingdoms which supports a considerable number of wealthy and titled Elites as well as merchant princes but its mayor is neither the elites here frequent the eldori dueling schools ale houses and engage in street corner challenges at dawn and dusk the city schools salons and tap rooms are also hot spots for rebellious talk against King neleski sertova's reign with many young people seeking a leader to Rally them to their cause points of interest in restov include the Citadel which is home to the mayor and the city guard The Grand Theater which produces the most lavish Productions in northeastern avastan the Great temple of erastel watched over by high priest of zanki kieg the preeminent priest of varastil in the entire region the aldori academy where students May learn the ancient and much admired aldori style of dueling and the regarvia house which though still called by the vanished Clan's name is in fact the home of the bank of free restov the Temple of abadar's primary Financial rival in restov and in the rest of Breville in fact important locations in ayobaria orlov a Cormier franax and Orlando's collectively these four cities form one of the remaining major power centers in ayobaria orlov one of the oldest cities of ayabaria and once the capital of the first realm Now lies mostly in Ruins whether its structures were built by Cyclops or humans Millennia later every corner of the city is crumbling the population has dwindled to less than half of its former size and the remaining inhabitants choose to ignore or wall off areas that are too damaged to repair or inhabit Prince sake of house Korea is one of the last surviving members of his family line which descended from one of the factions that restored ayabaria after its first collapse he believes that his Heritage makes him the rightful heir to power even though he lacks the funds allies and determination to rebuild the country instead he bides his time and works to attract wealthy supporters from Chely Acts or the river kingdoms to his cause hoping to gather the resources he needs to reconquer the region a Cormier just on the other side of the bay was in fact the very first settlement ever built in ayabaria by olfen settlers a Cormier Remains the most archetypical example of olfen architecture with its log lodges Dragon poles at its wooden Palisades and the like this city is seen resettlement many times and its present residents increasingly grow weary of Prince sake if Korea's empty promises of orlov's return to Greatness although nominally loyal to Prince Korea's rule the citizens of acormir also have their own leader in the form of the Druid King algon who worships an obscure giant god named pearbath the father of the north whose sweat is believed to have created the lake of Mists and veils closer to orlov still franax was once a Charming Port that was known for its exceptional Ship Repair and Building Services its strategic location on protected bays and three islands allowed the port to expand significantly but it has fallen on hard times since a terrible fire burned down most of the town finally orlendis is a town that has constantly risen From the Ashes while its significance to franax and orlov as a logging source for shipbuilding is diminished Lumber continues to be one of the town's primary products along with small game pelts recently the town has gained Fame for its new Lord an exiled Galton Noble named casral unilik thanks to his remarkable abilities and Financial Resources orlandis has become far more prosperous and defensible than ever before The watchtowers Cask kiruthar Hask ultheran and Frau Ross are three cyclopian watchtowers that were built before the rise of human civilization in the region today the first of these is a terrifying structure haunted by malevolent wraiths the second is occupied by a tribe of ogres and Hill Giants and the third also dubbed the charred Watchtower is the domain of Ash hag drawn here by the violent arsons committed by the great horde lanusia lanusia was a settlement founded almost 4 000 years ago however it was abandoned when a plague claimed the lives of so many of the community's children since then lanusia like many of the small independent villages in ayobaria has served as a refuge for Bandits an independent and largely non-human City the Komar or mayor of mirnarosk is the dwarf harsk vladax a werebearer and head of the Dwarven Clan with more than a few lycanthropic members the large number of lycanthropes and beast king in the town is not actively discussed with Outsiders but neither is it explicitly hidden any Travelers are treated as kindly as they act themselves those who take offense at or hunt lycanthropes should not expect to leave mirneros easily or indeed alive orost orost is another settlement that has remained independent and is the sole secure rest stop for travelers on route from orlov to mern Bay so naturally it has become a crucial site of escalating importance and conflict among the various factions vying for power in ayabaria the Town Central ruling Kamar is housed in a massive structure made of wooden Stone built by humans over an ancient two-ring stone circle of massive size the town has grown in size and defenses resulting in a crude Starship aurost attracts numerous envoys and representatives of the powerful from orlov Moon Bay cridorn and vecca the local law enforcement authorities strive to safeguard the citizens from the battles and conspiracies among these visitors who seek to trade goods and obtain power the sir zemian Highlands this central region of ayabaria includes three major human settlements though they do not technically form an Allied faction of any kind mishkar is a fiercely independent city that is friendly with the finedar centaurs and has allied with them in the past a ward off Goblin attacks from the Hills curia is an ancient cyclopsidy built high into the peaks of the mountains currently under the control of the great Druid Fedor vasilk whose circle of ancient ayabari and Druids embraced 36 local nature guards who they refer to as the children of erastel finally a little off the beaten path is the town of everen the kind but aided councilor pavla trinar rules here and she is generally regarded as the most powerful magic user in all of ayobaria though because of her age her score of apprentices helped to keep the peace more so than she does directly in addition to the three major human settlements the sirsemian mountains are also home to orosnir the eye Mount as well as the haunted ruins of the Locking Village of Horan as well as the caverns of perthos a network of deep caves which serve as the winter homes of the azorva tribe of centaurs the more treacherous parts of these Highlands are home to all manner of giants trolls and Dragons as well is a small settlement with few inhabitants primarily composed of mad Druids in reference to their deity the Cyclops God prathers also known as The Howling Eye these Druids gouge out one of their eyes and offer it as a sacrifice expecting in return knowledge and wisdom despite their apparent Insanity they possess obscure abilities that enable them to locate and ensnare anyone who Ventures into the woods near their settlement cridorn and its vassal cities of vollard and Vladimir cridorn also known as cridor's Cliff is the second most powerful City in ayabaria standing proudly on a sloping Cliff at the edge of the castroven sea its shining towers and Lighthouse guide Sailors on the sea despite being the second largest city in the region cridoran is constantly spoiling for a fight with any who criticize it the current leader lord burun of House evius is the fourth of his line to hold power here and his greed leads him to Envision himself as the future Overlord of ayabaria despite the fact that he has been easily manipulated for years by his ambitious Council of advisors who outwit him at every turn Burns constant focus on boosting his own reputation and that of the city leaves many Municipal decisions and services to others resulting in unreliable Services unless one is willing to pay a high price not far from cridor and sits at sister city of Vladimir which might have grown quite wealthy itself if it wasn't for its precarious position the Faris River's Delta which surrounds it on all sides provides many arable patches for crops and the river also yields large amounts of precious metals panned in many places along its length still the lack of a protected port and the high waves of the castrovin sea make Vladimir only a temporary stop for loading or unloading Goods in good weather before most make sale for cridorn itself to sell their Wares finally cridorn's northernmost interest volod is one of the more recent settlements in ayabaria established only in the last 200 years as a replacement for the Lost logging camps of Rodan for a significant portion of its history the town has been associated with the logging in Timber Industries which continued to dominate the trade in volod however despite its conventional background vollard has recently acquired A peculiar character as Druids settling in the town whisper that old gods have reawakened wind and demand the townspeople's worship the newvered lake this unnaturally warm lake is the location of oroskir also called the Opel island oroskir is an enduring mystery likely constructed by the ancient choleran empire its opalescent Dome glows every night and crackles with energy drawing lightning to it during storms none have ever breached its shell to tell of the Mysteries beneath it though many assume it is the source of the warming Waters of the nvid the cities of antol and vekka can be found around the lake antol was once the capital city of ayabaria but it is a much reduced shadow of its former self having been ravaged by both disease and War arguably though it remains one of the most comfortable cities in all of ayabaria as it stays insulated from the worst of the cold by the open and heated Waters of the Navid Waters piped beneath the city installed at New ayabaria's Height when it was the capital from 3312 to 3679 keep many homes and businesses warm year round this is one of the very few cities not founded upon or near the ruins of a cyclops City and its primary draws today are its Pearl and fishing trades and its libraries of magical religious herbal and medicinal lore founded long before the Pathfinder Society ever breached its walls it is however an occupied City a battalion of troops sent from their sister town of vecca to supposedly help keep the peace but actually to monitor the citizenry and prevent revolts against the Bandit King rule of Becca ensure King rule Remains the de facto despot though a smaller city than antol is the power base of rule himself the self-proclaimed kafar of nivir Lake rule has no trace of noble blood in his veins but he hopes to Ally with Prince sake of house Korea in order to legitimize his claim to power here or if that fails to isolate the naveered from The Prince and preserve his own power through strength of arms vorsuli a few accounts mentioned a great power in this Majestic ruined City that emerges from the glacier and glows on rare nights deep within the ice some depraved Druids in the area call this power the glacier God Wrath and make pilgrimages here to worship Him the overnur is the domain of ziovor ziovor is an ancient white dragon who claimed the northeastern ice steps and the northern Deep Run crevasse is his domain an uncounted number of shattered Dragon skeletons litter The Cliffs and steps throughout his glacial mountain lair warnings to any foolhardy enough to approach he is the eldest and strongest dragon to have survived the Drake plague of 4519 and he has numerous servants in the region both human and otherwise artoza also known as the three who watch these three massive Stone mesas are visible from many ayabarian Cliffs despite the distance crudely carved into the cliffs are three nude female humanoid figures of uncanny scale their bodies at least half a mile long while their race is unclear the figures show a long-haired Maiden a pregnant matron and a hunchbacked crone each holding up a hand and warning the viewers away Vernier although this city has changed hands a few times in its life it is today the largest single Centaur settlement in ayubaria and it plays host to many conclaves of Clan leaders every summer it is the shared seat of power for the three rishalka Clans with the city split among them into three zones of control these three Clans all share the hoofwood as their territory and maintain a provisional alliance against the more ruthless Soul Neva centaurs to their North Vernier also marked the northernmost reach of the rashaka centaurs in ayabaria mavradia and zradiniras mavradia was once a gem of ayabarian civilization but the Drake plague left much of it engulfed in Wild Magics great powers of flame ice and acid and over one-third of the city crumbled in less than a day because the battles among dragons seeking a rumored cure within the city's walls dragons both living and Undead and the oozing deaths of meth Radia keep this once great City a dangerous place to visit similarly zradiniris once a great Cyclops and later a great human city is now a deadly shambles of stone magic and danger at least one family of dragons lives in the topple Tower ruins watching the city in the crevasse to the east for their prey mern Bay tucked away in the Southeastern corner of ayabaria is its largest and most intact City made fat on the trade with other kasman cities across the castrovian sea this city is protected by sturdy Palisades Made of Stone and wood and enjoys the safety of a calm Lagoon murn Bay is the liveliest and wealthiest city in ayabaria and it boasts its highest population the recent arrival of Galton Nobles caused some disruption in the social and Commercial order but the situation has mostly been resolved and the galtons now control over a third of the trade guilds the Nobles of mern bay particularly house rukov hold their power carefully through complex alliances and strategies that seem incomprehensible even to seasoned politicians house rukov dominates the City by controlling the Wizards and their magical colleges while house zigzagi has power over the military together they keep the other Noble houses and the five Galton houses in check nevertheless lord ivad of House rukov is making deals and treaties at an alarming rate with the aim of resting power from cryidorn and orlov and ruling ayabaria himself he promises great rewards to his fellow Nobles who support him but few know if he can be trusted or if he has any real chance at all of achieving his goals foreign [Music]

Channel: MythKeeper

Views: 19,927

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Id: I-XvCNszoVw

Length: 96min 16sec (5776 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 12 2023