Source map notes: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 22:07, 26 June 2009

As you look at the map, you realize that finding and restarting all these manses may take a while. The five manses are scattered all over creation. It's pretty clear that the moon icon represents the moonsilver manse, the sun the orihcalcum manse, the star the starmetal manse and the skull the soulsteel manse. The symbol near the center is a common symbol used for jade, so that is probably the jade manse. Your guess is that the eye icon represents where you are now, that is, where the Eye is right now.

Some things you notice about the various manses, in alphabetical order:

Jade manse

The jade manse is very near the center of the map, but not exactly at the center. It appears to be on the spot of the Imperial Mountain, also called Mount Meru. This mountain rises six hundred miles high and is both the literal and symbolic heart of Creation. It can be seen from every part of the Blessed Isle and, on a clear day, even from the Threshold. Though called the Imperial Mountain, the Imperial City is actually far away on the east cost of the Isle.

Orichalcum manse

The orichalcum manse looks to be suspiciously close to Rathess. As you will recall, though now in ruins, Rathess once was the capital of Creation, possibly the oldest city ever. In the Wyld, you also learned that the city was the center of dragon king culture.

You have been told by Sundial that the sword Soul Mirror is somewhere in Rathess, and have recovered the memories of the two terrestrials that hid it. Stag was chosen to view those memories. After doing so, he told each of you a step on the path to locating the sword. With Jorias' help, he eliminated all knowledge of the path except the proper ordering of your hints, placing it into a sorcerous gem, which was then destroyed.

Moonsilver manse

The moonsilver manse appears to be in the middle of the western ocean, way south of the Wavecrest Archipelago, the largest nation in the West. Wavecrest itself is relatively peaceful, though it is often a target for pirates, and the citizens are known to appease the gods of the local volcanoes with human sacrifices.

Its possible the Lintha pirates would be that far south the Wavecrest, but since it is far out of shipping lanes, this would be unlikely.

Soulsteel manse

This location looks to be close the city of Gethamane, a large city built into a mountain in the frozen north. The city is self-supporting, making its inhabitants practical and fairly patriotic. Being buried under a mountain, the city is easily defended, and so has not had to bow to the Realm. It tries to remain neutral and has strong ties to the Guild, but this sometimes pulls it into conflict. This happened most recently about 200 years ago, when disagreements between Gethamane's neighbor to the north, the Haslanti League, and the Guild led to the League occupying the lands surrounding Gethamane for a time.

Gethamane is ruled by a hereditary ruler, known as the Master, advised by a council of 15 citizens representing various vocations (hunter, farmer, merchant, etc.) within the city.

Starmetal manse

This manse appears to be in or near the city of Yane, one of the more important of the eight city-states making up the Varang confederacy. Varangia is a strange little nation, known for its rigid caste system, inscrutable customs and a fixation on astrology. The culture is extremely xenophobic, and foreigners are allowed in only two of the cities in the confederacy, the coastal cities of Kriss and Talt. Yane lies between these two cities, also on the coast.

@@ Line 114: / Line 114: @@
 == Moonsilver manse ==
-The moonsilver manse appears to be in the middle of the western ocean, way south of the Wavecrest Archipelago, the largest nation in the West. Wavecrest itself is relatively peaceful, though it is often a target for pirates, and the citizens are known to appease the gods of the local volcanoes with human sacrifices.
+The moonsilver manse appears to be in the middle of the western ocean, way south of the [[Wavecrest Archipelago]], the largest nation in the West. Wavecrest itself is relatively peaceful, though it is often a target for pirates, and the citizens are known to appease the gods of the local volcanoes with human sacrifices.
 Its possible the Lintha pirates would be that far south the Wavecrest, but since it is far out of shipping lanes, this would be unlikely.
@@ Line 133: / Line 133: @@
 '''Guen''': This area on the map lies past the southern edge of the territory of a legendary lunar known as Leviathan (sometimes Admiral Leviathan), an orca-totem who was a dominant general in the First Age, and still lives today, though he no longer makes much contact with the Silver Pact.
-'''Juuken''': Wavecrest is a technically a tributary of the Realm, but is ruled by locals, who give yearly tribute.
+'''Juuken''': Wavecrest is a technically a tributary of the Realm, but is ruled by locals, who give yearly tribute. Still, this location seems too far away for Wavecrest to really be that interested in it. The only other you you notice about it is that it is only a couple thousand miles away from the water manse where you learned Celestial Monkey style from [[Serene Tail]].
 |}}
@@ Line 146: / Line 146: @@
 == Soulsteel manse ==
-This location looks to be close the city of Gethamane, a large city built into a mountain in the frozen north.
+This location looks to be close the city of [[Gethamane]], a large city built into a mountain in the frozen north. The city is self-supporting, making its inhabitants practical and fairly patriotic. Being buried under a mountain, the city is easily defended, and so has not had to bow to the Realm. It tries to remain neutral and has strong ties to the Guild, but this sometimes pulls it into conflict. This happened most recently about 200 years ago, when disagreements between Gethamane's neighbor to the north, the [[Haslanti League]], and the Guild led to the League occupying the lands surrounding Gethamane for a time.
+Gethamane is ruled by a hereditary ruler, known as the Master, advised by a council of 15 citizens representing various vocations (hunter, farmer, merchant, etc.) within the city.
 {{#ifexpr: {{#ifeq: {{CURRENTUSER}} | Eswoboda | 1 | 0 }} or {{#ifeq: {{CURRENTUSER}} | Wordman | 1 | 0 }} |
-'''Adrios''':
+'''Adrios''': Having spent most of your life in the South, you know very little about Gethamane.
-'''Stag''': Yu-Shan gate #31 supposedly opens on a very deep level of Gethamane, but you've never heard of anyone using it.
+'''Stag''': Yu-Shan gate #31 supposedly opens on a very deep level of Gethamane, but you've never heard of anyone using it. Gethamane was built during the First Age, but something happened to it after the Usurpation that killed all of the inhabitants, even the gods. The current population didn't begin until several hundred years later.
 |}}
 {{#ifexpr: {{#ifeq: {{CURRENTUSER}} | Qaz48 | 1 | 0 }} or {{ #ifeq: {{CURRENTUSER}} | Wordman | 1 | 0 }} |
-'''Gutts''':
+'''Gutts''': You know next to nothing Gethamane.
 '''Varden''': You've been to Gethamane before. The locals eat a fungus that they grow inside. The city gets less civilized the deeper you go. You were warned not to go down too far because "dark things lurk down there".
@@ Line 161: / Line 163: @@
 {{#ifexpr: {{#ifeq: {{CURRENTUSER}} | Guen | 1 | 0 }} or {{ #ifeq: {{CURRENTUSER}} | Wordman | 1 | 0 }} |
-'''Guen''':
+'''Guen''': You don't know of any lunars in Gethamane; however, it is an open secret in the Silver Pact that one lunar or another has been involved in shaping the Haslanti League to the north for a long time.
-'''Juuken''':
+'''Juuken''': You know very little about Gethamane.
 |}}
@@ Line 189: / Line 191: @@
 '''Gutts''': Each of the city-states in Varang run their own military. The Varang are not expansionist, so their forces tend to be heavily defensive, mostly using infantry and artillery (some mounted on armored elephants), keeping cavalry only for scouting. They do, however, have a national waterborne coastal defense force, based out of Yane, that includes sailors from every city.
-'''Varden''': You've never been to Yane, but your circus traveled just outside the Varang city of Talt. To protect the citizenry from the objious criminality of foreigners like you, the city military guarded your camp, mostly to prevent the performers from entering the city. Naturally, you snuck in anyway. All the citizens have strange tattoos on their necks, supposedly marking which caste they are in. As you didn't have these, your visit was fairly short, narrowly avoiding capture. You were there long enough, however, to become fascinated by these intricate time-keeping devices that a lot of the citizens carried. The whole place seemed to be much more aware of time and clocks than anywhere you've ever been. Everyone also seemed to be obsessed with gambling. You also noticed that there were no signs on the stores; everyone just seemed to know which store sold what.
+'''Varden''': You've never been to Yane, but your circus traveled just outside the Varang city of Talt. To protect the citizenry from the obvious criminality of foreigners like you, the city military guarded your camp, mostly to prevent the performers from entering the city. Naturally, you snuck in anyway. All the citizens have strange tattoos on their necks, supposedly marking which caste they are in. As you didn't have these, your visit was fairly short, narrowly avoiding capture. You were there long enough, however, to become fascinated by these intricate time-keeping devices that a lot of the citizens carried. The whole place seemed to be much more aware of time and clocks than anywhere you've ever been. Everyone also seemed to be obsessed with gambling. You also noticed that there were no signs on the stores; everyone just seemed to know which store sold what.
 |}}
 {{#ifexpr: {{#ifeq: {{CURRENTUSER}} | Guen | 1 | 0 }} or {{ #ifeq: {{CURRENTUSER}} | Wordman | 1 | 0 }} |
-'''Guen''':
+'''Guen''': You don't know much about the Varang city-states, but you've heard of what goes on in-between them. People in the Southeast as a whole tend to fear disease and deformity more than usual. Combined with Varang taboos about violating the strict caste system, this results in a good number people being outcast into the wilderness. These outcasts tend to settle in small, nomadic bands, often united by their infirmity, mutation or situation. These so-called "jackal tribes" are completely disorganized, but range all over the wild and Wyld areas of the southeast. They traditionally wear crimson scarves over their faces, to warn others that they are "unclean". As you might expect, they hold no love for the "healthy", but are quite hospitable to other "jackals". You don't know of any lunars who claim the area as territory, but it's possible.
 '''Juuken''': The Varang confederacy shares a border with [[Harborhead]], the nation currently occupying the attention of the [[White Queen]]. You are sure that Varang sends spies into Harborhead constantly, and you have heard some mutterings that the White Queen has sent agents into Varang, though you are not sure to what purpose.