The World Thread

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As of the 9th of October 2009 at 12:05 there was a strange flash coming from the Silvero area. The flash lasted only a few seconds and was so blinding that it didn't really have a colour. There was no accompanying blast of wind or anything like that, just the flash of light.

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OOC:Large picture

 

All persons not of Rusco have had a new Info-Gram placed in their back pack/pocket/hand.

 

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Since time immemorable Ruscovia had existed, the great Ruscovian civalisation which spread from the ancient settlement at Rusco, inhabited all the Magidom.

But all had not been well in the Magidom, there were some few who did not want to be Ruscovians, some who did not even want to look Ruscovian and so it came to pass that nine great mages met in secret, ploting to overthrow the Great Magi, Zed-wheela.

They combind their spell making power so that they could control the very building blocks of Ruscovians everywhere, and they worked, for many a year, understanding how the blocks fitted together, until at last they cast a spell of such world shattering importance that it's study has been completely banned in all the magidoms that it spawned. For their spell 'shaped' the very features of the Ruscovian, changing the colour of their skin, the tone and language, and most importantly their minds... Farmers who had always been happy farming threw down their tools and took to the high seas as pirates and pillagers. Miners who had worked in harmony with metals abandoned their mines and climbed into trees, declaring their oneness with nature.

As time passed the turmoil grew in intensity and Ruscovia split under the tensions, the shattered remains of Ruscovia reformed as Ruscarnia, but even this union was fraught with turmoil and so five counties of Ruscarnia were formed to prevent weakeness.

 

The Area shown in the map is know as the Heartland and contains three important countries, one important county, two unimportant counties and one minor country. These are thus:

Ruscarnia: The remains of the Great Civalisation, although only about a quarter of the country is shown here this is where the Capital, Fort Locksmeed, is based. Ruscarnia speaks German as its major language, though Lacksworth speaks majority English and Cavensburg does not have a significant majoirty language.

Lunadarn: The trading and bread-basket nation. When it initally split off only a small town with a port followed its call to the high seas, but from there it gained much wealth, and a passion for conquest, which it exercised against its neighbour, County Chicago. The war proved costly for both sides, with Ruscarnia providing much add to their breathen, but splits appeared which Lunadarn capitalised on, destroying a foe far more powerful than itself and wrestling control of the two most fertile regions in all Rusco. When the fighting ceased it inflicted a punative peace on County Chicago, which made it impossible for the county to grow its own food, instead it must provide Lunadarn with herbs and spices. With such a victory under its belt Lundarn expanded across the river Rusco, founding the town of Iyeclaire. The new Parmya State claimed the land belonged to them and so engaged in a bloody war with neither side as victors, and although nowadays the war has lost momentum there are still occational skirmishes which test the fragile peace. Lunadarn speaks majority Dutch.

Parmya: The Elfen people. The nation has no unifed system of control, but instead runs autonomously, with the various people's meeting occationally to discuss outsider movements. This method of government forced the creation of Lacksworth county, as to create a buffer between civilisation and the barbarians. Parmyans have always lived at one with nature, with very little regard for clothing or indeed any code of morality of any kind. In many senses it is a true anarchy. Whenever organisation is required there is much in the way of power playing which inevitably leads to new settlements being built in the conqured lands, but never to villages or towns. Indeed only two locations within their boarders can be classed as cities, and these are more a collection of settlements. In its history it has fought dozens of wars and absorbed dozens of smaller countries, always destroying the native people in the process, either by forced assimilation or by excution. Parmya speaks no majoirty language and does not even have a majoirty alphabet, thus communicating with any Parmya would be a futile endevour...and not just because they would sooner kill you than talk to you. The dominate families share a special language which is largely chinese in origin, but this is not shared with the majoirty of people.

Cavensburg County, the largest of the five counties of Ruscarnia. It has an equal share of land in the Crusable, the area to the West. Its main city is that of Fort Locksmeed, the Capital of the Ruscarnia civalisation.

County Chicago is largely a herb garden, providing for Ruscarnia and Lunadarn, outside of this it is the centre of religous orders all over the planet and the keenest advocate of pacifism. Its largest town, Mekalba, is widely regarded as the kitchen of Rusco, turning out new recipes every week as well as having more than a hundred restraunts.

Lacksworth County is a buffer zone and contains no major cities or important resources. There are however two points of interest. The first in the Carlburg Inn, the sister of the Marlburg Inn, which serves most every caravan before it makes the dangerous journey though Finnly Pass to Brogant or the slightly less dangerous Carly Pass to Banata. The other important point is the original settlement of Rusco in the north, which makes up the largest inhabited area in Lacksworth with just over five hundred people.. While it is under nominal control of Cavensburg County it is within the Lacksworth County sphere or influence. Lacksworth is also the only county in Ruscarnia to speak English as a majority langague, this is due to its close ties with Banata and Brogant, which are both English speaking.

Brogant, the last power in the area, was formed after the great Magi war, of which the state of Banata suffered greatly. One of the engagements saw the splitting of Farsight Mountain, but also the flooding of most of the state. When the water had drained away the mountains and lakes had isolated the Brogant area from the main Banata state. Shortly after this one of the Great Magi, Brogant, after which the area is named, came to the area and shaped the people there. At first they resisted, clinging to their heritage, but as their skin changed and the langauge too they began to dispair that their own country would never accept them as equals again and so joined with Brogant to control the pass and thus pin Banata between the rock and the Parmya. The ensuing war decimated the Banata territory, reducing it to a quarter of the size, but created so much resentment that, even though Brogant was now bigger, it refused to recognise their old breathen as anything but barbarians. The Magi Brogant capitalised on this to further shape his people, creating them as a race with pink skin, the first race in millenia to have it. He further advanced their fearful tendancies, but also their intellect, allowing them to develop sophisticated defensive stratagies which let Brogant live out the rest of his days in relative peace. Brogant speaks majority English.

 

Thus concludes the Heartland area review. Should you travel to another area will will provide you with another Info-Gram, should we deem it necessary. It should be noted that despite current appearances the situation is extremely unstable and may explode violently with even the mildest mistake. Thus sheath your weapons and don't bump into anyone.

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The second, and probably last for a while, in the Rusco History season. (Its 1 Am, I have 6 hours till I have to get up and, most importantly, I have an hour long hike when I get up...in wales, in probably the hillest place ever!!! but still, Rusco keeps me sane)

The growth of the Lunadarn, who have near unchallenged control of the seas. In the Heartlands review we talked about the Lunadarns as a splinter nation, who's only claim to fame was its epic war with County Chicago and subsequent trade growth. In this Known World Review we look at the wider implications the trading nation has had. Immediately notice that the Lunadarians have settlements in every area. Most have been built though semi-peaceful trade, some by peaceful trade, and some by war and conflict. Amongst the most significant is in the Lowlands settlement, which serves as their capital/home territory. The settlement has economic, political and, most importantly, strategic reasons for its growth. First it was the first port founded after the Lunadarn split as a stopping off point between Solaris and Ruscarnia. This proved particularly important only three years later when Godsend (present day Dis, Goldsands County and Arcadia) also broke away from Ruscarnia, creating a near impenetrable barrier to trade between the two major nations. This situation was further aggravated when Godsend began actively embargoing Ruscarnia in an attempt to force more land to be ceeded. Lunadarn's navies kept Ruscarnia in supply throughout the embargo, which eventually led to Godsend declaring war on Lunadarn, followed by Ruscarnia declaring war on Godsend. The war brought a major advantage to Lunadarn, the power of life and death...although Lunadarn needed Ruscarnia to defend it from Godsend, the only real threat was to the new port, the home territories were self supporting. In any case the Lunadarn launched an offensive against County Chicago mere months before Godsend broke down, at the time though the war looked set to continue for some years and so Warren and Cavernsburg counties forced Chicago to accept the demands placed upon it, as well as to grant Lunadarn territorial rights in Warren, Cavensburg, Corvan and Ronal county. When Godsend broke down Ruscarnia found itself, instead of facing one unified enemy, facing almost a dozen separate countries. Most notably was Galicigh(Which occupied present day Goldsand county), which was supposed to be crushed against Corvan County(Present day Galicigh) but instead caused mass revolt, though this was aided by the resurgent Shaping Guild, which also caused the creation of Parmya.

As the years dragged on new powers were formed and destroyed as shapers roamed the Crusable looking for power. In time two alliance groups formed, the Arcadians and the Disians and once again the Lunadarn were pivotal. The Arcadians(With most of present day Galicigh) wanted to end the fighting though diplomacy with Ruscarnia, while the Disians wanted to destroy Ruscarnia outside the the boundaries of the Rusco River. Ruscarnia wanted to end the war, but could not end the war in the south because that was where most of their troops were stationed, and without a full offensive to the north they would have to withdraw to Warren County, abandoning the future Goldsands County. The Lunadarnians had a plan though, in exchange for control of the Southern Straits(The two rivers(Rovan and Ronklin) in the south) they would launch an attack on the Northern Strait(The river in the north with the island in(Rakin)) cutting the supply line for Dis long enough to make them see sense. The plan ultimately worked, allowing peace to be negotiated and cemented peace in the Crusable for about two years.

 

With the Crusable settled each power turned to the problems it was facing at home:

Ruscarnia turned to face Parmya and prevent its further advance by creation of the Long Bridge, a mountain range which met with Brogant in the north and the Rovan in the south. Though the Parmya did and do overcome this obstacle the raids are much less than they were and the spread has been prevented.

Arcadia found a knife in its back from Galicigh, which conqured much of the territory, fighting Arcadia all the way back to the Boglands before agreeing to restore peace.

Warren County tried to administer its gains in the Crusable, but Goldsands declared independence forcing Warren county to turn to the Island to the north as its only overseas territory. But the next five years would see this state reversed, with Goldsands rejoining and the Island being invaded.

Dis meanwhile descended into civil war. Having been extensively shaped over the years by many different shapers the different groups were only held together by their hatred of Ruscarnia. When peace was declared many groups turned on each other. However the civil war ended as suddenly as it had begun with the rise of the Industrial Elite, five major shaped groups which together constructed the terrifying Musket Rifle, quickly dominating its surrounding groups and paving the way for the Industrial Powerhouse to take control early the next year and restart the war.

Solaris, largely unaffected by the war and shaping, since many of the shapers had originated from there, now faced a decline in demand as nations stopped requiring Glyph tablets and such. However new industry quickly opened up in two areas. The first was with Lunadarn, who needed their ships upgraded with thousands of different Glyphs to protect them from the weapons of the Dis. The second was the Dis, trying to find ays of upgrading their weapons. Both powers were aware of the other, but could not face Solaris so kept quiet about it.

Finally the Lunadarn increased its trade empire significantly, building important ties with Arcadia, Galicigh and the Brogant. Not only this but also developing a diverse infrastructure to provide its people with the best quality of life, thus ensuring that they would remain loyal on the high seas, where conditions were not luxurious.

 

As these few years passed all sides realized that a renewed conflict was inevitable and so squandered much of the remaining year to build an army, rather than infrastructure. This turned out to be a critical issue, with all sides unable to keep pace at home with the armies fighting abroad. This led to the Goldsands nation rejoining Ruscarnia which, combined with the fact that no power could now sustain their armies for any length of time, led to a stagnation of borders everywhere but the Island in the north, which was bitterly contested by the Dis, Warren County and Lunadarn. This island became the only theatre that mattered, and thus for the next ten years the great conflict consisted of less than twenty thousand families living and dying over an almost useless parcel of land. The only other change during this time was the formation of the Doven Protectorate, which was the result of yet another Shaper, though this time the results yielded positively, creating a race which was dominate in every way but not aggressive. However such people were subjugated to prevent them spreading too widely and competing with the rest of the world.

 

When the war finally drew to a conclusion an uneasy peace was created, though occasionally two or more powers will start a war over a strip of land, and of course the Parmya never declared peace. The Lunadarn also continue their less than friendly rivalry over the high seas with Dis, though Lunadarn undeniably is the greater navel power, Dis has all the key choke points heavily fortified, ensuring that only the longest route remains open to the Lunadarn, preventing further growth of the overseas empire. This said Dis cannot capitalize on this as it refuses to trade, thus only the need to demonstrate might drives them forward, precluding any chance of peace breaking out.

 

(The basic facts are thus: War is the norm. Lunadarn always fights Dis. The Lowlands are similar to the Werelands, but you are not instantly killed on sight. Heading to Solaris is a bad idea because you are walking though a massive battle zone. Speaking the wrong language, wearing the wrong clothes, any thing like this is likely to get you shot outside of West of Cavernsburg.)

 

Thanks for listening.

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Map of the languages of Rusco, please note that this map is not an official copy but instead was drawn on the back of a napkin which Xoex(Archimage) found in the rubble from the Carlsburg, which Tyler found pinned to the front door of their room when he got back and with Hex found sandwiched between two telekinetic cards. Ninety seven other maps were found, but since they were all in English only five of the people who found them could read them them, of this five three didn't understand, two didn't care and one wondered why he was looking at what he had just made.

[Tesset]

As of the 17th of May 2010, a second flash of light lit Rusco. This one, however, had greater consequences. Any sentient being alive at the time was instantly killed; all the Rusco natives have died, and anyone not native of Rusco has met Death. Death gives the non-natives this choice: You may return home, in whatever state you are in, at no penalty, or you can be resurrected on Rusco, as you did when you first came to Rusco, with no items but the maps and the clothes on your back. If you choose to be resurrected, you also have no memory of what happened during your first time on Rusco.

 

Ooc: This way, everyone is equal, and there's no Ruscovians around. This means that Aderyn came to Rusco the day after the flash, and Jem came a while later. So, here you can either make a new character, or you can use your old character, but with a blank slate.