Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]

Witch Storm is a Black Jewels Trilogy RPG based off of Anne Bishop's Black Jewels series.

We are a play-by-post roleplay that focuses on quality of writing, and accept intermediate to advanced players.

We hope you enjoy your time here on
Witch Storm.

Witch Storm has moved to self hosting. Please check us out at our new forum at: http://witchstorm.net

~We're switching to Self Hosting~ ~Read About It!~
~We will be moving in the next week!~

~WS Book of the Month Club~

~WS Mentoring System~




Winter Storm Brewing
By Malivar ViDante





















Darkest Web CLOSER Blood Rites RPG Forever Night: A BJT RPG Blood at Dawn

Affiliation

Witch Storm


RPGCollection RPG-Directory The Sapphire Court Topsite Ad Lucem Topsites RPGD CATEGORY :: FANTASY



This site is an RPG based off of Anne Bishop's Black Jewels series. The canon is: Daughter of the Blood, Heir to the Shadows, Queen of the Darkness (the main trilogy), The Invisible Ring, Dreams Made Flesh, the short story The Price published in the Powers of Detection anthology, Tangled Webs, The Shadow Queen, Shalador's Lady, and Twilight’s Dawn. This is a free site, and no money is being made.
Canon © Anne Bishop
Sidebar © Crystal and Heatherbee of the RPG-D
Graphics © Crystal and KaePhoenix
Plots and Characters © The Members of This Board
Welcome to Witch Storm. We hope you enjoy your visit. If you have any questions about joining, feel free to ask.

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Askavi Information
Topic Started: Aug 8 2008, 12:47 PM (405 Views)
Caelainn
Member Avatar
The Bibliophile of Doom

Askavi is a land of mountains and valleys that runs right up to the coast. Some of the ragged peaks are so close-set that there are only steep gullies running between them, while in other places the land opens out into wide fertile valleys.

The mountains tend towards natural cave formations, and the winged Eyrien race has made an age-old science out of enlarging these caves and building outwards on the mountains with the quarried stones to make their eyries, structures full of strange angles that leave those not bred to it feeling rather disconcerted...if they can get up to one at all.

The valleys are largely populated by the Rihlanders, “rih” meaning “valley” in the Old Tongue of the Blood. As with other places a system exists with the less frequent Blood villages holding responsibilities over the more common landen villages around them. Some of the larger valleys and some of the cliff-guarded bays along the coast support larger cities. The interactions are more complex between the short-lived Rihlanders, mostly either rural farmers or cityfolk, and the long-lived Eyriens, a race of proud winged warriors.

Added to the mix is the other race native to Askavi: the jhinka. The jhinka are purely landens—none have ever been known to wear the Jewels, a fact that fills them with envious rage. They are winged like the Eyriens, and also like the Eyriens are a warrior society. But they have stubbier bodies, are short-lived and not very intelligent. What they lack in intelligence and power they make up for in numbers, ferocity and stubbornness. Jhinka raids are thus not to be taken lightly, even by the Blood.

At the center of Askavi is Ebon Rih, the Black Valley, and at the heart of that is the Keep, Ebon Askavi, a solitary black mountain rising from the center of the long north-south running valley. It is there that the Winds meet—a fact that means that it is comparatively easier to catch the Winds in Askavi than in more far flung Territories, for the webs of the Winds run close together here. The two Runs that are formed as the Winds are funneled through tight river canyons before opening out into Ebon Rih are used as proving grounds for Eyrien warriors: the Blood Run comes up from the south and contains the light Winds, from White to Opal, and flying it is something of a rite of passage for young Eyrien warriors who have finished their training at the warcamps; the Khaldharon Run is far more deadly, containing the dark Winds, Green through Black, coming down from the north and ending at the rock formation known as the Sleeping Dragons at the northern tip of Ebon Rih. Only a handful of the strongest and bravest warriors attempt the Khaldharon each yeah—many are forced to pull out of the canyon...others die in the attempt. It is traditional, however, that a warrior who successfully makes the Khaldharon Run may choose a reward...traditionally the woman of his choice for a night.

The tendency of the warrior culture towards male dominance is in constant tension with the matriarchal instincts of the Blood. Males are very protective of their positions as warriors and are fiercely opposed to the idea of females learning “male” weapons, in principle because it is a male's duty and right to “protect.” The landen Eyriens also build eyries and have warcamps and are also a warrior society, but they keep a wary distance from their Blood counterparts. The landen Eyriens have a far more blatantly warrior-dominated society, females and non-warrior males taking a distant second place in power.

Riondel Province
Province Ruler: Ullian Triden --- Queen --- Rose ~ Purple Dusk (NPC)
Chonaill District: Tivian Porter --- Queen --- Yellow ~ Summer Sky (NPC)
Phyrust District: Ghillian Caldecote --- Queen --- White ~ Rose (NPC)
Tellula District: Ziphar Storn --- Warlord Prince --- Tiger Eye ~ Purple Dusk (NPC)
The east and part of the south of Askavi make up Riondel. The eastern foothills make up the border with Dhemlan. Though it is a fairly gradual transition from the wetter provinces, a large region of Riondel is quite dry. Most of the storms coming off the ocean drop all their water long before they reach Riondel and they don't get quite the snowpack of Venta either. Perhaps it is a spillover effect of the taint that has long lived in Dhemlan, Terreille, or maybe it is simply a natural effect of geography and weather patterns, but Riondel has never in living memory been as wet or as fertile as the other provinces. Nonetheless, towns and villages below and eyries above make their way year after year in the drier mountains.

Telluride Province
Province Ruler: Kohlvar Swinn - Warlord Prince --- Yellow - Rose (NPC)
Barclay District: Haydar Losce --- Warlord Prince --- Rose ~ Summer Sky (NPC)
Fenella District: Viridian McKie --- Priestess Queen --- Yellow ~ Tiger Eye (NPC)
Tierney District: Wistar Timon --- Warlord Prince --- Tiger Eye ~ Summer Sky (NPC)
This western and southern province is perhaps the most green and fertile regions of Askavi. Though still cold and snowy in Winter, Spring comes earlier here than in Venta to the North. The south-western edge of Telluride makes up Askavi's coast, and there are several prominent port cities there, including the capitol city, Sardis.

Venta Province
Province Ruler: Chandian Vrock --- Queen --- Tiger Eye - Summer Sky (NPC)
Kentigren District: Aydrian Fanshaw --- Queen --- Summer Sky ~ Purple Dusk (NPC)
Padraic District: Nizar Ray --- Warlord Prince --- Yellow ~ Rose (NPC)
Sholto District: Eirian Nomus --- Healer Queen --- White ~ Tiger Eye (NPC)
This province stretches across the whole of the northern range of Askavi. Snow falls early and melts late here, but it contains stunning vistas among the beautiful mountains. The Rihlander population is a bit more thin here, but the valleys are not quite so brutally cold as the surrounding mountains, and all the snow melt means that water is not a problem—lake fishing and dear hunting are almost as much staples as the cold-climate crops and the produce from the sturdy mountain goats and woolly sheep.

Ebon Rih
Province Ruler: Lavian Kohr --- Queen --- Rose - Opal (NPC)
This is the Keep's Province, and thus stands apart from the other, larger, Provinces. Tradition holds that when Witch rules the Realms, she can appoint the ruler of Ebon Rih and the tithes would go to her. The rest of the time, the tithes go to supporting the Keep—it does need to be able to support itself and offer hospitality to visiting scholars and those seeking help, after all. There is a Province ruler but she answers to the Seneschal rather than to the Askavi Territory ruler, though usually there is significant cooperation with the rest of Askavi. There are three major Blood villages in the north-south running valley: one toward the northern end, one in the south, and the largest near the base of the Keep in the center of the valley. Rivers and streams and lakes are frequent enough in Ebon Rih and it is a large and fertile valley, easily supporting itself.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
ZetaBoards - Free Forum Hosting
Free Forums. Reliable service with over 8 years of experience.
« Previous Topic · Plot & In-Game Information · Next Topic »
Add Reply