A World of Steampunk, Intrigue and Empire

A repository of information about the Kantriverse - a world of steampunk, intrigue and Empire, where the Kingdom of Kantrias faces the challenges of new technologies, political infighting and the entropy of Empire - where magic and technology combine to create clockwork constructs and mighty airships, where tall ships sail the seas and wrest wealth from foreign lands - but not every one of those foreign lands is content to play the part Kantrias sets for it. Kantrias is a Kingdom possessed of Empire, and a sense of it's own righteousness - there is one way, the Kantrian Way. The sooner the rest of the world realizes that, the better off they'll be. Or so the Kingdom of the Gavel and Sword tells itself, time and time again.

[kyliafanfiction]

Historical Perspectives on Arelis, the First Empire of Bayetzian Civilization

In my setting, called the 'Kantriverse' after the Kingdom of Kantrias (which sort of serves as the Protagonist nation of the setting, or at least the one I focus on the most), there was a great city that had a master of magic still unequaled that rose on the lip of the Canyon of Ghosts, above the shores of Lake Orman, and that city was called Arelis. It built a mighty empire, and fell after more than a thousand years, once dominating from one end of the continent of Bayetz to the other in networks of trade, tribute and daughter-cities, but withdrawing overtime. Many of it's ruins have been swallowed up by the Glass Desert, the surviving daughter cities diverged and merging with the desert nomads that the original Arelans disdained. 

But study of Arelis continues now, even more than a 1500 years after the city was emptied. Attempts to study or even reclaim the city of Arelis itself have failed time and again, earning it the grim moniker 'Kingdom of the Empty Throne', and yet, even now, people still pick over the ruins left behind all over the continent. Some for magic, some for knowledge, some for wealth. It may be the start of an age of Steam and Industry, but the stones and bronze of Arelis still hold mysteries unknown.

But everyone has a different opinion on Arelis - the people below are meant to be generally representative of common threads of opinion, though by no means do they represent the only opinions, or the only opinions in their respective nations, though in many cases they do represent a dominant trend at least within a significant segment of their country/culture.

One thing I do like to do with my setting is think about the history as perceived in-universe. As the 'omniscient narrator' of the setting, I do spend more time thinking what is the actual truth of it all, establishing the factual clear timelines and known historical causes and effects, but in-universe, of course, that's not how the study of history or archeology would go.

There is also a map of Bayetz to provide a bit of a frame of reference for locations mentioned above. https://i.ibb.co/ys4JjCb/Bayetz-Map-With-Borders-and-Disputed-Territory.png

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"My tribe was here, in the desert, before Arelis was built on the lip of that howling Canyon. My tribe was here, in the desert, when Arelis rose and straddled the continent. My tribe was here, in the desert, when the Empire forged by Arelis crumbled and fell. My tribe is here, in the desert, now that Arelis is an empty city of ghosts and dust, a corpse your people pick upon like flies. My tribe will be here, in the desert, when your Kingdoms crumble to ash and dust and are picked over by those who come after you."

-Alzarhus, son of Morhmaan, elder shaman of a Marlion tribe in the Glass Desert

"Arelis was once the very pinnacle of civilization, unequaled in the sophistication of its bureaucracy and administrative apparatus for centuries, until the modern era, really. Their constructions dwarf almost anything else, even what we build today with the aid of steam-powered devices and constructs. Their magic outstripped even the greatest of our mages and witches. It was a glorious Empire... built on the back of slavery, conquest, exactatory tribute and a top-heavy administration that shattered when circumstances turned against it. I can admire Arelis for its glories and successes, but Kantrias stands today as an Empire that may not rival Arelis's in size, but certainly does so in greatness."

-Doctor Rabius Khaine, Professor of History at the Royal Kantrian Academy of the Arts and Sciences, Capital City Campus

"Arelis? Arelis was merely another conqueror. They destroyed the Vampire-Kings of the Barrier Peaks, and set to rule us on the banks of the River. First they divided tribe from tribe, then city from city, then King from King. When that failed, they set out to claim us directly. But Arelis, for all it's magical glory and greatness, did not adapt, so slaved to how they built their Empire in the first place. It took centuries, but our forebears in the Old Thovartans wore them down, just as we did to eventually drive out Voluz. Their magics are worthy of study, of mimickry, when they do not cross into vile practices. The history of the Empire is of useful and admittedly interesting study. But I do not research Arelis, I do not plunder its ruins for magic and for art to honor it, the way some of you southerners do. But to profit from it, in mind, spirit and gold."

-Tarondo Vazagand, Explorer, Adventurer and member in good standing of the Arelis Research Society, Angron Chapter, in the Mazandian Union

"Arelis was both our first, and perhaps greatest enemy, and our first, and perhaps greatest teacher. The cities that arose on the shores of the Sea of Storms were copied from the daughter-cities Arelis built in our midst. We paid them their tribute, studied their ways, and in time, under the greatest of Fathers and Kings, Patroyvi Vanivora, we destroyed them. The forebear of the Despots of the North commanded the winter against those desert peoples, and destroyed them at Lake Gradstal. And yet, even after Arelis exacted tribute but did not punish, we continued to study, to learn, and to exceed them. Arelis fell, and Voluz endures. It is by the grace of the Triumvirate Gods and their Vice-Regents in the Emperors and Empresses of Voluz that Voluz has survived for so long, existing for longer than even Arelis. And yet, Arelis still teaches, by example of its fall and the sins thereof."

-Uruslavi Theondoptava, Patriarch of Kargengate for the Volutian Triumvirate Church

"Arelis? There is little to say of Arelis. They did not bother with us here, in the Vale. I do not know if they feared our elementalists or feared the great distance and cost to reach us or if they did not find value in our lands. Save for that one fortress that studied the nature of our Vale, ignoring and ignored by my forebears, Arelis had no impact on us. And yet, that fortress, with their tablets, gave Kolyat the information he needed to Know Truth, and to give rise to the Elemental Mysteries, that Truth that binds our people together. But Kolyat was a singular mind, and with his long life, he would have Known Truth eventually. Arelis merely sped up the process."

-Archmage Blean-Trai, Archon of the Fire Tower in Kolyat-Var.

"There's an art to faking an Arelan artifact. You don't want to fake anything anyone's going to test, of course. No blades or anything bronze really. And you have to be careful about not making it look too perfect. In my experience, Third Dynasty is the way to go. It's easy to copy the blue glaze, and it's all the rage in Kantrias. Hah! Nothing makes me happier than to know I'm feeding my family by selling trash to some ignorant merchant in that pestilent kingdom of busybodies!"

-Guradam Ylessien, Forger in Al-Maliya

"Arelis never subjugated the Baleric peoples. The Free Cities have always been free. But it would be wrong to say Arelis played no role in us. To be Baleric was to not be Arelan. It has always taken a strong enemy to bind our peoples together, for we love our homes and cities far more than our kin in distant lands. To be Baleric was to be everything Arelis was not, to succeed at everything Arelis failed in. Or at least, to aspire to both. I sometimes wonder how some of my kin justify enslaving the Lizardmen, when Arelis built itself on Slavery."

-Arkturan thel'Kaeris, patrician and polymath in Iranserra, in the League of Free Cities

"Arelis? That's some city in the endless sands to the south? I have better concerns than to study such a place. Disdain us all you want, but our story, our history here in the Moors is of far more interest and value to me. What care I what some Empire gloried to far from here? The stories and battles and deaths of my forebears, the study of our towns and castles, the lords and councils here, in the Moors, is of better value - and aye, better interest. It's the stories of people, of the foibles of Moorish men and women, not the stories of cities and monuments and Priest-Kings. Arelis! Bah! Come to me when you can speak with authority on the battles fought by Hanzor against the mountain tribes!"

-Ottoron of Vaelstal, well-regarded historian in the High Moors

"Why do I buy so many Arelan artifacts to display in my mansion? Why else, but to prove I can afford to? My vineyards and my fishing fleets keep me rich, but there's no value in money kept in a vault. One must keep score, and the best way to do that is to impress your friends and enemies with what you spend your money on. My grandmother had an extensive collection of Porcelain from Guayas, but fifteen years ago even fatherless merchants with but a few ships to their name could have some of that now. And so now I buy Arelan artifacts. Only the best, only the most expensive, of course. Come, let me show you my latest acquisition: a bronze ceremonial sword from the First Dynasty. Cost me a fortune at auction, but well worth it, given everyone who saw me buy it."

-Count Velazkych Grodno, prominent nobleman in Vorstock, in the Dominion of Korvall

"There is no 'Aurelian Consensus on Arelis' anymore than there's an Aurelian consensus on anything but staying independent and united. Ask the Noreshi, and the general opinion you'll get is that the Arelans were monsters and brutes, too uncreative to think of ways to build empires but on the backs of slaves. Ask the Batharites, and Arelis was the Great ur-Mother of modern civilizations. Ask ten Vrisi and you'll get twenty answers, but then that's why you don't ask a Vrisi. I think that Arelis was the most powerful state to rise on this continent, yes, and I think they left a legacy that still guides many kingdoms and states today. I also think it was guilty of every sin of Empire. I know the Kantrians and Volutians like to think they've avoided the sins of Arelis, and aye, they don't trade in slaves, don't trade in the vile magics Arelis was said to by the end, but they commit all the same sins of Empire beside. And yet - Arelis's name is burned onto the pages of history. My father once said 'Might doesn't make right. But it does make people notice you.' And unfortunately, he may just be correct."

-Doctor Breldne Cessawiry, Professor of Theology and Philosophy at the Grand Collegium in Rindoc in the Commonwealth of Auralia

[welcometokantrias]

The Continent of Bayetz: Part 1

(Map created by Holygosh, based on an original map that I lost all but a small poor-resolution version of by my friend Illusive Lucy)

Situated in the northern hemisphere of the world, the Continent of Bayetz is dominated by the Glass Desert at it's center, with most of the population situated in the north, between the Glass Desert and the Roof of the World, or the coasts, where rainfall or mountains keeps the desert at bay.

Politically, Bayetz is divided between 11 distinct political entities, and a number of regions that lack central organization or sometimes even major settlement at all. If inhabited, these regions are usually the domain of nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes, or small villages and fortified holdfasts. Kantrias may be the great power of the continent, but the Empire of Voluz seeks to reclaim that title that was once theirs, and the Dominion of Korvall, though generally insular and quiescent is not to be dismissed. Even the quarrelsome League of Free Cities, the isolationist Republic of Iomedia or linguistically and religiously diverse Commonwealth of Aurelia cannot be simply ignored. Nor do even the city-state of Mirror's Edge, the Three Desert Sisters, or even - much as Voluz would wish otherwise - the strange tripartle realm of the Mazandian Union, lack the power and agency to seek to shape their own destinies.

Historically, Bayetz is defined by the legacy of the ancient empire of Arelis, which once rose at the heart of the Glass Desert, along the edge of the Canyon of Ghosts. Every culture and civilization now extant on Bayetz rose up in it's shadow, and, if not outright descended from it, was either shaped by it, or shaped in opposition to it and it's scattered remnants after the Empire fell to increasing desertification, shifting trade routes, new techniques in metallurgy and internal strife and the inevitable entropy at the frontier.

Culturally, Bayetz is divided between a myriad of cultures - some with vast territory to their name, some far less. Some cultures have nations of their own, others are subject to another, or part of some greater whole. Some cultures are divided politically, others united. Some seem to share little more than a language, others are practically all one family, or so it may feel to outsiders.

Racially, Bayetz is dominated by humans - on the surface. Though centaurs, lizardmen and element-kin are present in substantive numbers, and even in distinct cultures in the case of the first two, and elfbloods and dhampirs live among humanity, humans are the most numerous by many orders of magnitude. Several miles under the surface of the continent, Dwarves rule, and drive the reptilian Starugalk away from their cities and tunnels, to the most remote badland that exist in the deeper realms. Further down, where the fires at the heart of the world radiate through the rock, the mammalian Trigrhodu trade and war with the dwarves and the Starugalk. A Trigrhodu nation may align with a dwarven realm against a rival of it's own race, or against another nation of dwarves, or it may join with it's own kin against a dwarven people - and any combination in between.

From the frigid, ancient conifers of the Wyrmwood to the balmy and new growth small forests of southern Kantrias, from the stormy and sometimes deadly waters of the Shattered Sea and Ocean of Dawn to the comparatively calm waters of the Ocean of Dusk and the Sea of Mists, Bayetz is a continent of many histories, many stories, many peoples and many secrets. Even as Kantrias looks across the Shattered Sea towards tropical Guayas and the spices and other trade goods that can be drawn from there, and across the Ocean of Dawn to the great western continent of Kholesun, it's neighbors and rivals back home are not content to simply accept the inevitable Kantrian suzerainty.

Kantrian-flagged ships may dominate the trade lanes today, but power is always shifting, and the balance of history may yet tilt in favor of another.

And sometimes, the fulcrum of history must be moved by force.

[welcometokantrias]

What Is The Kantriverse?

The Kantriverse is a setting that started out when I created a fictional country, Kantrias, and alongside a number of friends that I had, in intermittent periods between 2012 and 2014, with a brief resurgence in 2017, expanded on. We also used Kantrias as a vehicle for playing in the game NationStates, as a sort of 'clan' (in more common terms) but it is the fictional country Kantrias (and the continent of Bayetz around it) that we built up in stories and little bits of lore detail and conversations and just for fun that I would later take, combine with pieces of other worldbuilding ideas that I had, and then create into a more complete setting that I could tell stories in.

And also just worldbuild the fuck out of, because I like to do that.

As a result of the mixed origins, and many holdovers from the days when I worked alongside my friends to create things, there are some oddities, but I think they add to the charm of the setting.

Some of those oddities include the fact that because a few of my friends at the time were big Game of Thrones/ASOIAF fans, the places they created had names in common with Westeros - a city called Highgarden, and a set if Islands called the Iron Islands. Neither place really resembles it's Westeros counterpart outside the name, and both names are pretty generic.

Other things - such as the existence of the Genasi in Kolyat-Var, are the result of my own D&D and Pathfinder interest - and in general, while some of the more obvious stuff has been filed off, the D&D and Pathfinder influence can be pretty obvious if you know what you're looking for, and indeed, I have run multiple pathfinder games in this setting, though I've had to make some alterations to the setting to fit the assumptions of Pathfinder's actual play.

But none of this really says what the Kantriverse actually is.

The Kantriverse is a fictional world - the name of the planet is something I don't have, and frankly the people of the world may just call it 'the planet' because why not - and plays host to a number of continents. The three that have ever been established are Bayetz, Guayas and Kholesun. Of those Bayetz is the center of the action in terms of what got and has gotten worldbuilding attention, and of course, the Kingdom of Kantrias and it's capital city, also named Kantrias, was the main focus.

The Kantriverse is a world of magic, but the magic tends to be fairly practical, and direct, and follows generally predictable and understandable rules - to put it in TV tropes terms, Magic A is, broadly speaking, Magic A. Of course, the rules underpinning magic are no more one hundred percent understood than every single rule explaining how reality works in our world, but they are understood mostly.

It is a world where magic can do a lot, but it's generally direct, perceivable, limited effects. It's a world that, broadly, works like our own - gravity, animal life, the way minerals work, et cetera - but it's also a world where dragons once dominated the skies, where caverns and tunnels deep underneath the earth house entire peoples and nations, and where the gods - distant though they often are - are real and give power to their followers.

It is a world of powerful states, fallen empires, and rising powers. It is a world where empires that were once great have been laid low - and sometimes, they might even be making a resurgence. It's a world not just of humans, but of centaurs, dwarves, lizardmen, kitsune, and more.

It is a world where demons and angels exist and can be conjured, but as beings that are pure ideals given form - and quickly find themselves ill-at-ease in a world of grays and nuance, complexity and imperfection. It is a world of spirits often barely understood, and ancient magics even less understood, if even active at al.

It is also a world where ranks of soldiers stand shoulder to shoulder and fire muskets at the enemy. Where ships bearing canon and powered by sails clash for control of the trade lanes, and where airships have begun to challenge the great Rocs for command of the skies. It is a world where new factories powered by coal and magic, structures of steam and gears and pistols, churn out white and black smoke, covering the sky, bringing with it it disease and progress, poverty and wealth. It is a world where clockwork constructs and old style golems can be built to fight the battles of their makers, and where bizarre, occult secrets that break all known rules of magic can sometimes be wrested from reality.

It is in this world that Kantrias sits as the most powerful and wealthy nation. It is in Kantrias that the House of Quilor reigns as the Royal House, where the ancient nobility jealously guards their remaining wealth and privelages in the Senate, and where the elected representatives of the people in the Consistory are torn between those who seek progress and growth and wealth at the expense of all else, and those who seek to see to the needs of the people. Between those who speak only for the narrow interests of new money, and those who speak for the workers, urban or rural, or for the middle classes.

It is in Kantrias that Church and Crown have fought a vicious dance for over a thousand years, where the pagans are persecuted, but not every faith that lies outside the Church counts as pagan. Where renegade covens of witches are hunted by the Ministry of Security and the Inquisition both - but rarely do they work together.

And yet, despite Kantrias's wealth and power, it is not unchallenged on the world stage. The Empire of Voluz, once the great powers of the North, seeks to modernize under a new, reforming dynasty, while the ancient, stagnated Telvir Ascendancy threatens to dust off ancient magics and embrace new technologies both, to stave off the corrupting influence of Kantrian ideas - and of Kantrian influence over states that should rightly be their vassals.

Even Kantrias's allies are hardly content to be merely aids to Kantrian power - the snakemen of the Kingdom of Kharash may be allied with Kantrias against their old enemies in the Ascendancy, but they look in askance as Kantrias courts the lesser states of Guayas to be their vassals in all but name, rather than Kharash's. The Commonwealth of Aurelia may consider Kantrias the lesser evil than Voluz, but the economic hegemony of the Kingdom of the Gavel and the Sword is hardly universally beloved by that realm.

Kantrias is a nation of wealth and power, and for the average Kantrian, even the poor ones, life is generally good, generally safe, generally positive in outlook. But in any great Kingdom, exceptions exist, and with wealth and industry allowed to run amock in the name of the Queen's desire for military adventurism, and with wealth always begetting more wealth when left unrestrained, and when heretics and pagans join forces with disaffected witches and separatist rebels, danger can only grow.

The Kantriverse is a world of steampunk, intrigue and empire - it is a world of war and adventure, of ancient history and a glorious future.

The world turns, Kantrias is, and the Kantriverse continues.