The capital city is the heart of a kingdom. Varlone, the hub of civilization in this part of the continent and its most beautiful city, is a great and magnificent place. The Royal Palace is the most splendid building here, and the Cardinal’s Residence is almost as beautiful.
Administrative buildings: City Hall, the Secret Office, the bank, and the prison.
Educational establishments: Academy of Magic, Academy of Strength, Academy of Accuracy, Varlone University.
Workshops: The forge, the Technocom, the Central Alchemical Laboratory.
Other notable buildings in the capital city are the hospital, the inn, the mailing service, Greennoise headquarters, the Trade Guild, a huge market, and the beautiful fountain, the residents’ favorite meeting place.
The maidens will be happy to help you find your way around Varlone. The city is always growing, so new craftsmen shops and recreational destinations will soon be opened in the capital.
Where every good adventure begins, the verdant hills that surround the capital are only outdone by the luscious greens blossoming around every corner. Elenia is a haven for apprentices and acolytes as the monsters here are generally passive and harmless.
Elenia’s features include its amazing green forests, where trees sweep the sky with their branches and hares are ready to jump into your hands. Driven by fear, of course, as they run away from forest warriors screaming at the top of their lungs and shaking their spears.
These forests are home to ordinary animals as well as to a number of odd creatures. All kinds of plants animated by the Forest Shamans, menacing Ancient Treants, Evil Eyes and Croggs floating in the air, horrible Praying Mantises, and the hilarious but deadly Nastiers.
Warriors tame and saddle the carnivorous raptors and flesh-eating birds from these woods, using them as battle mounts. And then, of course, there are the omnipresent Bumblebuzzes! These cute, funny, and extremely valuable insects are the blessing and the curse of any traveler. The first rule of anyone wishing to explore the forests of Elenia is: “If you want to find your camp intact in the morning, shoo the bumblebuzzes away at night.”
All keen travelers and adventurers are advised to muster their patience, equip a couple of fire swords, and visit these forests.
Squelchians’ home. They are also home to the numerous Toads, Swamp Crocodiles, Worms, Fillers, Hivers, Chlosens, and all other sorts of disgusting beasts and insects. A real paradise for those who enjoy a good thrill and swamp fever. However, despite the countless dangers, many are eager to settle in these hostile woods to study the health benefits of the hivers’ honey and the gourmet value of frog meat.
In addition to the desperate peasants, the hermit witches, and the drowsy prophetesses, the swamps are home to the Squelchians - a sentient race of half humans, half frogs. It’s rather hard to distinguish them from the aggressive swamp creatures due to their protective coloration and rather low level of intellectual development. Eat, sleep, kill - that’s what a Squelchian’s daily life is all about.
Long ago, a great forest stood here, birthplace and home to the now-extinct race of the immortal and beautiful elves. At least, that’s what the elves themselves used to say before they disappeared. During the Trilateral War the elves were forced to leave Aura. Before leaving, they decided to destroy everything they had been creating and building for thousands of years.
This inaugurated what is now known as the Elven Curse and the Cursed Forest.
Today, this is a horrible place teeming with nightmarish creatures. Perhaps they are just ordinary plants and animals warped and corrupted by the Curse. Or perhaps they all belong to a totally different world. Only the elves know, and they all left Aura long ago.
The southern regions of Elenia are a vast, sun-scorched desert. An endless expense of golden sands, scattered with lush oases and bounded by the azure sea, washing snow-white foam onto the beach - that’s what the Mara is for the artists.
Ancient ruins full of mysteries and secrets, exciting legends of the hustlers and heroes of the vanished Golden Empire, mystical Pharaohs and Oracles from the Geometers’ Pyramid - that’s what the Mara is for poets and musicians.
Venomous scorpions, thieving scarabs, aggressive bumblebuzzes, pestering ants, deadly creatures lurking deep in the sand, empty ruins, and the mythical treasures of the Pharaohs - that’s what the Mara is for treasure seekers.
Sand in the teeth, cunning Ashkalot merchants, ambushing robbers, and ten gold pieces for a cup of stale warm water - that’s what the Mara is for everyone else.
“All Ashkalots lie. Lie, steal, and kill,” - a rule to be remembered by any traveler wishing to venture into the southern part of the kingdom.
A gloomy yet fascinating place where eternal night reigns supreme. And what a beautiful night it is! Full of enigmatic sounds, mystical glades with dancing flames, and curious plants that you won’t see anywhere else. It would be one of the most amazing places in the world, except for its one “but.” Well, actually, there are plenty of “buts”, with horrible jaws, claws, pincers, and fangs.
This forest is a happy hunting ground for night predators.
This realm of eternal night is the creation of Morra, the castaway goddess who hates the light of day. And she has made every effort to populate her domain with the most dangerous creatures. At first sight, all these Snifflers, Buzzers, and Night Bumblebuzzes seem very cute and harmless - but that impression only lasts until they approach you enough to attack...
As for the werewolves, they’re a different story. You can easily tell by their appearance that they are dangerous predators. They roam the night woods freely while the vampires, Morra’s favorite creations and faithful servants and the true masters of this land, hibernate in their castle.
The North. Where the warm green forests of Elenia give way to hostile cold rocks covered with scarce vegetation and a thick coat of snow. The dwelling place of the harsh and unfriendly orcs, who have the habit of hitting you first and asking questions later. If you survive to answer their questions, that is.
The animals inhabiting the northern tundra have adapted to surviving the harsh conditions. Unprepared travelers are guaranteed to have a very hard time here. Ferocious Keroks that attack everything that moves; Hauls and Aries, giant Murkers, and Decamons.
... And orcs. The most dangerous of Obykan’s inhabitants. While humans and orcs are not enemies, it is recommended you keep both eyes open if you venture into these lands. Young orcs are too dumb to distinguish a human from an orc right away. And fighting each other is what they do all the time. The only measure of orcish valor and strength is the number of enemies they have killed and enemy skulls they have smashed.
The border of Elenia and Obykan is where the mines abandoned after the Trilateral War are located. These are the mines where orcs used to mine gems and rare metals. Many years have passed, but the King of Elenia is still reluctant to resume mineral production in the mines. Not because of the horrible trolls and terrans lurking in the depths.
Not because of the termite colonies on the top floors. Because of the orcs. Or, to be more precise, because of what they turned into over their years spent in the mines.
They say that elenium is the key to the homuncules’ immortality. This might well be true: the orcs who died during the riot and in the rockfalls are wandering the underground galleries once again. The elenium fumes have transformed them, granting them a sort of second life. They are not alive, but neither are they the living dead, like the creatures raised by the necromancers. Their living tribesmen call them garcs, meaning “ex-orcs.”
Teuton Castle, the place where the best knights and the most powerful battle mages were trained, once stood here. However, centuries ago, the castle was destroyed. A network of fortifications was built on the site and in the end developed into an impenetrable wall that divides the valley in half. A wall covered with firing ports, defensive mechanisms, and attacking devices. A wall where warriors, priests, and mages keep watch day and night, and endless war is a daily reality.
The Perimeter. This is the site of courage and glory, of desperate heroism and self-sacrifice. The site where Life fights Death itself. This wall separates the kingdom of Elenia from the eastern lands, where death reigns supreme. Death has taken the form of Ngalu, Lord of the Liches, who hates life in all its manifestations. He dreams of transforming the whole of Aura into his kingdom, a realm of the living dead. Time is on his side, for his army grows bigger and stronger every day that the war is fought. It is continually replenished by the fallen defenders of the Perimeter, who rise from the dead to serve Ngalu.
