CLEAVECROSS WORLDBUILDING ( 4/??? ) - frithcanal, where you can find anything you want for a price. ( psd by @saorisea )
Even if some things changes, the routes to Frithcanal stay the same. The instructions, too, are always the same. You go to northern Brightbarrow and follow the smell of the river until it grows overpowering, and then you follow the arc of the city downwards. If you hit where the city turns into mud and sludge, then you’ve gone too far. Backtrack from there until you find the mouth of a canal that feeds into the river, the entrance to Frithcanal right above it and strung up with colored glass. Personally, his bet is most of that glass is stolen from breaking into Pearlhook houses. Where else do you get that many shards of bright glass? But anyone who actually sets themselves up in Frithcanal insists it’s shattered from items that are washed up or sold there - lamps, display cabinets, and decorations in general.
They clatter and click against each other in the faint breeze, red and blue and orange and green all glittering in the light.
Marsden walks the edge overlooking the river carefully. Sometimes some of the urchins get a little overzealous in their ploys for loose coins and trinkets, especially when their target’s a well-dressed man keeping his hands in his pockets. Once in a while, people fall into the river, and when they do, it’s usually a fisherman or a town a good distance away that finds the body. He doesn’t want to leave Faldira that much, at least not yet.
the two main thoroughfares in faldira are a road and a river, respectively. the cleavecross is an enormous road which goes east to west and carries most traffic into and through faldira. it intersects with the pivot, a major marketplace right in the center of the city. it’s one of the older roads, the first road built and completed after the citywide riots a few centuries ago. locals will complain about its state of repairs often, since the years of constant traffic have really worn it down. the cleavecross intersects directly with the wind, the large river cutting north to south through the eastern side of the city. it leads out to the sea to the north, and a series of port cities near the mouth of the river which is where most of the aquatic traffic comes from. overall, if you’re passing through faldira, there’s a good chance you’’re taking either the cleavecross or the wind, and everyone knows locations relative to those two paths.
PEARLHOOK
pearlhook, or the hook, is where wealth and power lives. it’s the seat of the faldiran government, a parliamentary system with members elected from the twelve different wards that the city was divided into after the riots. it’s got all the best and brightest of faldiran society, in the newest fashions and all the money. the saying goes that everything dogside gets is just what’s leftover from the hook, and that’s probably true. the hook is the closest thing faldira has to a cutting edge. it’s colorful and bright in comparison to the rest of the city, with stained glass and expensive fabrics. generally, it just looks like what you’d expect from the area with all the wealth and power, and it’s not like that’s a quality that’s going to change any time soon.
BRIGHTBARROW
the middle. where everything comes to blend together. brightbarrow doesn’t belong to one group of people. it has shops, businesses, and plenty of people just living there. as the most eclectic district in faldira, just about anything can happen there. it’s also the oldest part of the city, surprisingly. a lot of it was destroyed in the riots, though, so what remains is partially architecture from before the riots and what was constructed over the top afterwards. as such, brightbarrow has plenty of structural problems with plumbing and just some less than stable buildings. however, it’s got the strongest community out of all of the districts, most of whom are fiercely protective of their district’s interest. it’s not a bad place to live, after all. there’s definitely worse.
DOGSIDE
a definitely worse place to live is dogside. there’s a whole river - as in the wind - separating it from pearlhook, and the reason is probably more that pearlhook residents wouldn’t want to cross paths with anyone from dogside. they’d probably get pickpocketed. dogside has some of the worst of the worst, and it’s where they all get together to collaborate. mostly, though, it’s just people down on their luck, or whole families who’ve been down on their luck for a few generations now with no real way of getting out. dogside people tend to have tighter alliances than those over in pearlhook, but that comes with a general proximity to danger. if you need to disappear, dogside’s probably a good place to do it. it’s just hard to get out, once you’re in. that’s kind of the problem.
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PLACES IN BROKEN RAIL (1/???) - the nightjar, a neon-lit bar owned by an ex-raildog ( psd by @pilipalea )
Irene thinks she might love the Nightjar more than anywhere else on the Rail. And that says something, because there are plenty of places she’d rank highly on her list of destinations. They’re mostly grimy and old, but the Nightjar moves past that. The lighting is always a rich purple that stains the skin of everyone inside. It makes people less human and more shapes and silhouettes, moving against each other in the dark. Poetic, lovely, and fitting. Vera chooses her lighting carefully - the bar is always soaking in pinks and teals, the closest the place gets to a spotlight.
Surprisingly, there aren’t even that many fights. Maybe they know better. Vera will pin a man’s hand to the bar for not paying her, the clear plexiglass of the blade filed down to a razor point. She will leave him there to scream curses and bleed until he pays up, her drifting angelic from one end of the bar to the other, hair turned a pale pink in the light.
Irene knows she called Vera beautiful once, a little tipsy and too fond, leaned halfway over the bar.
That’s not me you’re calling pretty, Vera said. That’s the bar, honey. Nice of you to say, though. The design of a cocktail shaker has never changed, as far as Irene knows - too utilitarian. It makes sense that she would like the ones that she shakes with her own two hands, though. Every Raildog is like that. Things are more certain if they do them themselves.
Same difference, Irene said, and the shaker rattled in Vera’s hands, catching the light, turning dozens of colors.
The architecture - the beams overhead, the repainted supports - marks it as built out of the hollowed-out remains of some Reardon ship, utilitarian in a way that becomes striking with the right neon bulbs. Everything is repurposed out here, nothing original. But you can make something lasting out of that, and even something lovely.
After all, like people said: if it survived the Frontier, it could survive anything.
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HOMEWARD LOCATIONS ( 1/??? ) - the church ( psd by @saorisea )
In the corner of the sparse backyard is a garden where OLIVER is busy pulling up dead things, killed and wilting in the cold. Next to the garden are several grave-sized lumps of dirt, with makeshift crosses made of planks marking them. Each cross is slightly off - never perfect, lopsided or with the cross-section a little too low.
He glances over at the graves. Looks down at his hands, covered with dirt.
At his feet, a single green sprout, struggling but persisting. He smiles down at it on principle.
homeward is by @skeletongrrl and @glittcrpeach. find out more: ( one. ) ( two. )
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in elytain, there are six main landmasses. the story itself takes place mainly in the island kingdoms of axyral, the point upon which the world turns. axyral is important not because of its size, but because of its location. it sits directly between several continents whose countries have, unsurprisingly, been at war with each other throughout history. there are trade wars and disputes, and axyral is often caught in the middle. as the saying goes: when axyral bleeds, so too does the world. we’ll be coming back to them in a separate map, since they’re the main setting of the story.
we’ll start at the top left and work clockwise. the continent of aunora is generally one of manufacturing. with strong mineral resources, aunora as a whole marches steadily towards progress. the coastal regions tend to use hydropower, assisted by magical means. further inland, steam tends to be used more. aunora has a long, long history of isolationism, and many of its governments are basically miniature athenian democracies. everyone has a vote, everyone has a say, and therefore political change tends to come fast and furiously. upheaval is common, which is probably why there’s never been an empire or a historical ruler of the whole geographic area. althel’s peak is marked as the site of a major battle between tyrn, the country it’s located in, and northern korevain, in which one small aunoran country pushed back to might of the korvainian forces. it’s kind of a source of pride over there. they have yearly celebrations up on the peak about it.
the anchored cliffs are, as the map shows, an isolated plateau. the entire place is a geographic impossibility, sheer cliffs rising out of the sea at angles impossible to climb. the only way up is to basically tether your seafaring vessel to some of the so-called “floating city” built around the bottom of the cliffs and on some neighboring islands, and then to gain permission to take one of the enormous lifts up to the walled city itself. the problem is getting up there. the anchored cliffs are very aware of their lack of space and resources, and the solution has become a well-ingrained caste system that often exiles people for minimal slights. petty crime? slight offense? off the cliffs, down to the floating city. find a ship and get out. the only way back out of exile is to come back with a token that expresses a skill or talent that makes you vital to the cliffs, and to prove this to the council of the city. needless to say, that’s difficult to do.
korevain is interesting for a variety of reasons. first is its geography. the northern portion of korevain is cut off by the yulza mountains, historically impassable and leaving the northern portion only accessible by sea. several wielders of powerful magic have been working on a method to create a viable path through. the rest of korevain is an enormous amount of farmland and forests. the korevainian empire is ruled by a kind of monarchy, though each successive ruler is chosen by the former through the renewal. quite a few common people think that the renewal is just a bunch of show and bullshit, and they’re probably right. where aunora mostly deals with outright threats, korevain’s threats are internal. the empire is nearly constantly fracturing, with countries attempting secession. the only one to succeed in recent years is the eastern island, formerly eria’s heart, named for the first queen of the korevanian empire. they’re still deciding on a new name, but the new seat of power has been moved to movell, possibly because it’s the closest to korevain and thus a big “go fuck yourself, come at us” at their previous rulers. most people still call them part of korevain (including this very map!), which genuinely upsets them.
merris is the one area unfortunate enough to share a direct border with korevain. as such, they are constantly dealing with fallout from korevanian internal conflict, and have chosen to welcome korevanians with open arms. the open traffic flow is generally one way, but still. merris itself is probably less technologically advanced than the rest of the world, but it has an incredibly strong uniting narrative through religion. duality is the hallmark of merris’s gods. however, despite the lack of technical innovation, they borrow heavily from other countries in terms of technology, and they produce some incredible craftsman and writers. magic is a common practice - even just small personal rituals passed down among families. thus, their government has become something of a feudal theocracy, with government split into smaller lords but run through religious angles. at the south end of the continent sits leviathan’s bones, a focal point of multiple religious orders for worship which brings plenty of traffic to the southern end of merris.
al’zelro is really two major islands. magic is what bolsters both islands, and is the foundation of their society overall. they have built wonders - impossible crystal spires and short-range portals that can cut travel time across a city into mere moments. with those wonders, of course, come some disasters. the western portion of ulioth is mostly a desert, ravaged by a magical accident that wiped the slate clean. al’zelro’s southern center, where the land curves, used to actually be land until another disaster simply wiped a portion of it and a major population center out of existence. with these two disasters, mere decades apart, came a century long moratorium on magic use that was only lifted about a hundred and fifty years ago with the installation of the four codices, a series of tomes that are basically rules for magic use. the two islands are distinct in their government. ulioth is mainly plutocratic, with major merchant families running the show, whereas ter ovai is a thaumocracy - mainly run by the magic-users of the island. the two have a long-running relationship allowing trade and magic to flow freely between the islands, and they mainly concern themselves with each other’s politics. these two islands are often considered the safest angle by which to approach axyral.
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marivale is probably the most populous island, though no one has ever run a census. people tend to stay there. molos, the center of it, sprawls out to cover a good portion of the inner island. it is one of the most well-built, with excellent roads and a general form of public transportation through the carriages that take two or three day routes across the island from one town to the other. although it is not the most technologically or magically advanced, it has one of the best support systems in the world for its people. governed by a series of local democratically elected councils, marivale probably best exemplifies the idea of axyral as the freest place in the world, or at least something that has borrowed all the best parts from the surrounding continents. it boasts a variety of professions, and is the source of many of the precious metals used elsewhere in the islands. it also trades most often with the islands of al’zelro, considering its proximity to one of its major ports. as such, it often has some incredible magical goods, both legal and illegal, and generally sees what’s happening in the world before some of the more inner islands. they sound the alarm, so to speak.
arher isle is interesting in that its language is entirely unique. using a mix of hand signals and sounds almost like humming, arher natives often use this language despite the fact that almost all of them can communicate with the rest of the islands. most of the island’s locations weren’t named by the local people either. these names were mostly created by the rest of the islands so that they could give each other coherent directions. despite this barrier, arher isle has no problems with those from outside. their culture and their resulting economy is based around cloth, which is to say weaving. their cities often have flags and banners hanging from many surfaces, offering rich spots of color in the midst of the city. arher as a whole tends to be secretive and distant from its fellow islands, though some have moved from other places in the world to arher isle and learned the language. their goods are highly prized outside of the islands, and most of the isle seems to be living relatively comfortably thanks to that. run by a seemingly representative democracy, arher isle is incredibly self-sufficient. it could easily secede from the rest of the islands and exist on its own, but being a major exporter of textiles seems to be too good to pass up.
wynval - or, to be specific, north wynval - is as close to the center of axyral as you can conceivably get. as such, it tends to be the hub of communication, transport, and information in the islands. people tend to pass through often, however, and stay there less. it is a land of transience. northern wynval is a nation of carpenters and builders, and especially shipbuilding. this makes sense considering how you need to travel between islands. their ships are often considered the best in the world, thoroughly enchanted to deal with any kind of weather problem, elegant and sturdy, and just generally something to trust if you’re part of the crew on it. scarsevain is the most infamous city in wynval, as an enormous tiered city that can be seen from miles around. some residents of diolas, vahsall say that they can sometimes see the highest peaks of scarsevain on the horizon. it is named for its first ruler, who died peacefully and old and was given, like every ruler after him, a water burial. we’ll be talking about the spine in a separate post, because it’s probably my favorite part of axyral (though it might be a tie between it and zella’s watch).
vahsall is mostly unexplored. this comes from a hostile environment, an enormous jungle, and the fact that it’s just generally difficult to navigate. thus there are only two major settlements - diolas, a major city whose space was cleared of plant life and hostile animals merely seventy-five years ago, and kalzen port, set on the small island to the south of vahsall. there have been efforts to approach it at various points, but most have run up against sheer cliffs or jungle that is incredibly difficult to move through. there have been some successful inroads on the eastern side, but they always run up into some geographic obstacle. as such, vahsall has become the location of many legends of treasure and fame, even though most people roll their eyes at him. every year, though, some young people decide to explore and either come home empty handed or don’t come back home at all. citizens all through the islands joke that if you see one of those exploratory groups, you might as well make a damned betting pool, because it’s got about the same chance as flipping a coin.
zella’s watch is an island of halves. dedicated to a merrisian goddess of dreams and the long watch. the two cities are the goddess’s eyes. the eastern eye is dedicated to the long watch - that is to say two purposes: military might and historical records. they both keep guard and keep records. it’s a neat system. the western eye is much more concerned with art, music, and creative expression. many musicians (and thus many troupers) retire in later years in the eastern eye, making it a hub for other music-related professions - makers of instruments, composers, and even some wealthy people who like to hire quartets to wait around to play on demand. it’s a good gig if you don’t mind sitting around a lot, and they generally pay well. the two eyes often trade people and information, and anything that happens in one will inevitably affect the other. zella’s watch tends to preach neutrality both in island matters and in world matters, even though a good portion of the leadership is from merris - which makes sense, considering what they’re dedicated to. a lot of people want to retire there, mostly because you’ve got protection from an excellent military and an enormous amount of culture.
south wynval, connected to its northern cousin through the narrow passageways of the spine, shares many traits with its other half. however, there are a few key differences. southern wynval tends to be more important to those within axyral, considering its location is actually central to them. there are two important locations - laen’s rest and southend. laen’s rest is not a town as much as it is a resting place for travelers. think of it like a trailer park for caravans and groups passing through. it has been run for years by the oilren family, who owned the land first and turned it into what it is now. there are a few people who make their livings at laen’s rest, by selling food or repairing broken-down wagons and other such things, but it’s not as populous as a true town. people just pass through there on their way to other places, ports, or even islands, if they’re planning to catch a ship. southend is usually the destination for those not planning to leave to another island. southend is to axyral what al’zelro is to the world as a whole - a center of magic and wonder, set at the bottom of a valley.
olegar is the odd one out of the islands of axyral. they do not allow approach from the western end of olegar - that is to say, from outside axyral. they will only allow ships to approach and enter port that fly axyral flags, or the flags of one of their fellow islands. they believe that axyral ought to isolate itself more - less free trade, more internal trade - since they did it for a good thirty years in recent history and it seemed to work out fine. inveris is the only exception, but it has a strenuous process to allow crews off their ships, a mass of messy bureaucracy and time so severe and obnoxious that most crews simply ignore it and sail elsewhere in the islands. yllena tends to be less obnoxious, but it still only accepts axyral residents. as a whole, the island and its inhabitants are often ridiculed by the rest of axyral, mostly because a majority of the islands are perfectly alright with the new status quo.
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