Monday, September 9, 2024

9 Truths of Neurim

Consider this a reboot of the Neurim Primer.

1. The Sun Never Sets

The sun is always in the sky, and the land is ever bathed in its white light and warmth. The sun is dim, and Neurim's moons are visible in the sky (like the sun, the white moon Corhael and the red moon Mara take permanent residences in the sky, while the gene moon Astla orbits once every day and is how people on Neurim track time). The sun only sets if you travel far, and when it sets the land becomes dark and cold.

2. Bocathia Was Great

The Bocathian Empire was the greatest in this or any age, an immense magi-tech powered nation that spanned the globe. They succumbed to Plague, withered and rotted away in their own decadence, and their ruins litter the land.

3. The Zetterites Have Their Hands in Everything

For 600 years, the Zetterite Empire have spread their laws and church over all of the sunlit surface of Neurim, spreading far past the point their logistics allow. Every nation on Neurim either submits to the Empire, or has made long standing agreements for peace. The Zetterites have kidnapped hundreds of gods, and most have no opportunity to worship except in Zetterite built listening rooms.

4. The Zetterite Empire is on the Verge of Collapse

The Empire is beset on all sides. The orctide in the South, the Tahls in the North, the backstabbing Nastrans to the East, the heretic Svoggites in the West. Several decades of war have made the empire weak, and it can no longer afford to assert control over much of its territory.

5. Magic is Dying, Alchemy is Surpassing it

True magic died with Bocathia, and what we have now is a weak facsimile. Technology progresses further and further every day, and it's only a matter of time before an alchemist discovers the secrets to efficient engine making.

6. The Second Little War Ravaged the Land

When Balisarius rose from the dead for the second time, he resumed his war against the Empire. This war ravaged much of the Imperial heartland, which has yet to recover a decade later. 

7. The Plague is on the Wind Again

Everyone can tell. Folks come to the High Capitol with a cough in their lungs looking for a cure, but the Plague is no mere unbalancing of the humors. Entire towns on the borderlands wither away, and soon the Plague will reach its tendrils deep into the Empire proper.

8. Folks are Different Nowadays

When Bocathia fell, folks started being born different. Signs, they called them, afflictions of the human form. They can change, as one ages. They modify appearance, and can grant powers. The stout and rock-wise stone signed were first. Then were the red-haired and attuned to magic fair signed. 

9. Bad Things Live in the Dark

Where there is no sunlight, terrible things lurk and dwell, twisted monstrosities rise up from the shadows. Everbright lanterns mark roads through dense forests and valley paths wreathed in eternal shadows, managed by brave lamplighters.

No comments:

Post a Comment