• Twenty Four years ago in-game, a large fullscale conflict started between many of the worlds most powerful countries and empires. Simply referred to as 'The War of the World' due to its massive scale and length, its technical name is the First Intercontinental War of the World (FIWW).

    The twin empires of Dreugar and Aunvillette combined their forces in a coalition called The Dwazi Party. They began to stretch and stretch their borders for over a decade, taking by force what was not ceded to them until the entire north continent was theirs, enslaving those that would not surrender.

    After an international incident in which a Vega warship was bombed by Dreugar terrorists, the middle continent joined the war with the combined might of Vega, Bellagonia, the Stoutlands, and many others meeting the Dwazi Army in open battle.

    The war raged for 7 long years, with neither side coming out ahead in the age of modern machine-powered guns and cannonry. To make the war worse, 4 years in the hume alliances began to fracture, leading to 3-way fighting as Myridia and their ally Sharaq dropped out of the coalition of countries and began their own empires. The longer the war waged, the more fractured and web-like the alliances on both sides became, including several uprisings amongst the conquered people of the north.

    With everyone coming to see the profit and opportunities to be made off their allies, the war seemed endless. The worst of the fighting took place on northern Vaer, southern Drue, and over the 1000 Isles, with each side vying desperately and failing to take and hold the archipelago one island at a time--but many parts of the world saw their share of fighting and destruction as brother turned on brother, sister on aunt, cousin on uncle, and dog on nanny.

    After 7 years, and almost ten million dead, the countries each met at the treaty table in the city of St. Cid, with sour tastes in their mouths but empty reserves of money and troops back home. A stalemate peace was reached, old map lines were redrawn and new ones were added, but tempers and grudges remain to this day.

  • There are many races found across the face of the world in Palmyra, not just human. Though there is no magic found here, the different races and ethnicities in them each provide some small changes to the human experience. All live to be about the same age. The three most common races of the world are:

    Hume - The humans of Palmyra. They are just like us but live in a way cooler world, and come in all shapes, colors, and ways of life.

    Elves - The elves found in Palmyra are similar in stature and feature to a human, but with some fundamental differences. Their skin colors can be much more bright and chromatic than a human’s, and they each have long, pointed ears, some as long as two feet.

    Dwarves - Human in appearance but they tend to be shorter and wider, leaning towards a symmetry in height and width. Dwarves are immune to most things poisonous to other races, and tend to have much higher chances of multiple babies during pregnancy (common for quadruplets and higher)

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    Though their numbers are much smaller and so are a little rarer, these races have all largely integrated into the societies of others. They are as follows:

    Weekind - A race much smaller in stature than a human. They tend to reach about three feet in height, and are commonly mistaken as hume children. Their eyes are quite commonly very sunken and rheumy, and many have a pronounced, almost rodential, nose and mouth.

    Centaur - Rarer still are the Centaur, who have the upper body of a hume and the lower half of various quadrupedal animals—most commonly equine and feline. They are traditionally tribal and nomadic, travelling their respective landscapes in search of survival. It is thus that they are natural traders and commonly worship St. Ruis.

    Ophidian - The rarest race found in Palmyra are a reptilian race of beings. They have only small holdings, still living largely in the hidden wilds of the world. Much of their history was unknown to the “civilized world”, even to the mainland Ophidians themselves, until the discovery of Khan—the birthplace of the Ophidian race. Here, mighty Kingdoms stretch out over the sands, their numbers plentiful as any other.

  • 43 years ago, a small convoy of world-travelling ships that belonged to a fledgling Palmyra Trade Company washed ashore in a new world. Through a fluke storm that cause them to be lost at sea, a new continent completely unknown to the world back home was found. To their surprise, it was completely populated by Ophidian Kingdoms. Originally they called it “St. Aureum”, though it was later correctly renamed “Khan” after the locals taught them their languages.

    Now, 17 years after the end of the War of the World, the PTC has a strong holding on the center of the Isle, and the Royal Vega States have their own colony in the south — all by the allowance of the Ophidians.

    The prevailing attitude on the mainland is that the locals didn’t know the value of their own land and were fools to give the PTC and Vega the best land on the Isle, but few question that assumption, nor the morality behind being cool with that.

  • The beating human heart of the world of Palmyra.

    Centrally featured in many of our past campaigns, this country (along with the southern human ones) mirrors the tendencies of our own human histories — bloodshed, zealotry, warfare, and conquest; but also art, music, poetry, education and love.

    Essentially, Rome if it kept its shit together through the centuries.

    They have ruled various parts of the central continent of Vaer over the years but now hold the east firmly.

    Their country, headed by Queen Eleanor Dinsmore, is a constitutional monarchy, with a Senate arrayed beneath the Queen, and a Bill of Rights similar to America’s.

  • A fiery and widespread culture and ethnicity of mostly humans and elves. Their history is as ancient as any of the peoples of Palmyra, largely being marginalized and controlled by more powerful groups through the ages; until an Empire-wide rebellion, The Great Duchy War, was fought during the Second Era, the Age of Crowns, and Vionna was officially recognized as its own sovereign duchy, setting their place at the side of Vegas for centuries to come.

    They are boisterous and fearless, and have added much to the world’s accomplishments, especially in the form of poetry and advancements in sailing.

    They tend to be Aetherites though this is as much due to obstinacy towards Wayfinders as it is due to any deep affinity or piousness with the religion’s tenets of unity and sanctity of life.

  • The Church of the way of the Saint is the central world religion, with practitioners being found in literally every country the whole world over.

    It is a polytheistic worship of “Saints”, once-mortals who became so exemplary in a walk or way of life that they transcended their human forms, becoming Saints in the Night Sky.

    This may be a moral aspect they have mastered — fairness, justice, or power — or it might be a more practical one, a skill or trade. Whatever the field, skill, or feeling, there is a Saint for it.

    It is overseen by a group of self-appointed elders: the priests are known as Tellers of the Way, and their superiors and those in charge of entire diocese are known as Keepers of the Way, who themselves are overseen by a titular leader, the Arbiter of the Way.

    Each Saint’s Sect holds different, sometimes even disparate, views on certain aspects of life that they have deemed as holy. They tend to oppose Aetherites, and while there are no legal or official mandates against the practice of other religions, there was once a century long Inquisition of the Way, against Aetherites, in which many were horribly treated, brutalized, or killed when refusing to convert.

    They don’t talk about that much. It can be a real nightmare nest of vipers with Wayfinders about.

    There are an endless stream of Saints, thousands, though there are a few “Favored” Saints of the Church—about twenty—that represent a core pantheon. Found among them is Morrigan, Saint of Justice. The story’s own Teller Just Crawford is from this sect, acting as a form of Federal Marshal whose jurisdiction is even broader to define and easier to abuse, because the Saints in the sky do not hesitate at borders or kneel to flags.

  • One of the world’s main religions, and the historical opponent to the Church of the Way of the Saint.

    Argued by many as the world’s first organized religion, there is no doubt its history traces back to the First Era, the Age of Dawn, and the Dragonscourge that burned the world.

    Its tenets are centered around four holy dieties, called The Four Queens, or the Four Pillars of the World. They each respectively represent earth, air, water, and fire. The fifth element is life — that essence of the Queens found in all of us, the sum of the Four Pillars’ efforts to hold us up. Some call it the ‘Aether’, some ‘The Light of the Queens’, and others simply call it a soul.

    As all living things have some form or shard of this Aether, those that acknowledge it are all Chosen by the Queens, and to be revered.

    There is no afterlife. There is no reward. There is only the sacred duty that rests on the shoulders of all: to acknowledge and honor the gift that the Queens have bestowed to all, even the wicked.

    Though they have been forced to wander the world through history looking for a place to call their own, the most holy of sites are The Three Peaks, mountains in southern Vaer that once held their stronghold of Torris, the home of the first fully established Aetherite nation. Though the stronghold was long ago dismantled, the peaks remain a stark reminder of what could have been.

    At its core it is a peaceful and mostly meditative religion, finding purpose in unity and tolerance; though after literal ages of persecution at the hands of the Wayfinders, many of the members revolutionized their practice and became violent, radical opponents of the religious persecution they still face. This has led to several guerilla-like sects of warrior-monks forming, such as The Chosen of the Chosen, and the Cult of Rhaeden. They paradoxically believe that the unity of the Queens aether is worth killing and dying over.

  • There are a few different hume cultures and ethnicities, they are as follows:

    Heartlander - The Vega. They hail from the N. Televia river valleys and forestlands. They are typically fair haired with blue, green, or brown eyes.

    Vionnese - The people of the southern and eastern Sea of Vion. They tend to have darker skin, darker eyes, and brown or black hair.

    Televian - The people of the Televian Delta. They tend to be stouter, and often have various shades of red hair and/or eyes, including bright red both.

    Stoasch - The people of the rocky eastern highlands. They are a proud and ancient country and culture, strongly favoring Aristocracy. They tend to have shiny dark hair, and often have stunning purple eyes.

    Bellagonian - The people of the Bel’Agon Rainforests. They are hardy in nature, and can go without food and water longer than normal. Though uncommon, they can have green shades of hair and, even rarer, skin.

  • There are two other types of dwarves as well, each with their own unique physical differences. They are as follows:

    Druesch - The Druesch dwarves hail from the snowy northern peaks of Dw’ar Se, the mountain stronghold capital city of Druegar. They are impervious to the cold, able to withstand much lower temps than others. They are industrious, disciplined, and tend towards authoritarianism.

    Aunsch - The Aunsch are dwarves that come from a land of perpetual autumnal mist. The Laughing Rocks, the large and rocky hill range, is their birthplace. A land of perpetual mist and fog, they have developed their senses other than sight to near supernatural levels.

  • The elves of Palmyra are similar to humans, but each type has their own unique features. All share a similar feature — long, pointed ears.

    Ellisien - Slightly shorter and more slender than a hume, Ellisien Elves are the most ancient elven culture. Their skin tends to be the color of a healing bruise — pale greens, blues, and purples. They have very long ears, as long as 2’, and slightly insect-like features, often growing small bits of chitin on the outside of their skin (most commonly on their knuckles)

    Ima - Elves from the red rock deserts of northeastern Panala. They are the strongest and hardiest of the elves, and can have skin tones that are various shades of red. They are hardy and built to withstand harsh environments, and their cat-like eyes can also see in the dark, with some even glowing when the light is low. Their ears are around 1’ long.

    Myridian - Elves that chose to leave the southern continent in the First Era, the Age of Dawn, and settled the northern shores of Vaer. Living among the humes, they forsook their ancient religion of Arci’i and became Wayfinders. They are renowned smiths and swordfighters, passing down ancestral swords of exquisite build and edge from generation to generation.

  • There are many geographical phenomenon found in Palmyra, from the beautiful to the startlingly bizarre.

    The Moons - There are seven moons that grace the skies of Palmyra, each in its own speed and cycle around the globe. In total, the seven moons each spin a roughly 3.5 lunar cycle. Some move quickly, reappearing often through the lunar cycle, another might show up once and slowly move across the sky over the course of a full year. The moons are: The Bright Moon, The Hunter’s Moon, The Lady’s Moon, Kingmoon (also called Crownmoon), The Blood Moon, Greenmoon, and The Fey Moon (or the Witchmoon if you’re a Wayfinder).

    Signet, the Isle in the Sky - Found in southeastern Panala, a majestic and massive island floats nearly half a mile above the surface of the earth. Why and how it floats is still the subject of study and debate. For long stretches in history it was an overgrown wilderness, an isolated ecosystem all itself. But over the last century, flying eagles and hot air balloons have aided the nation of Rexli to build a city atop the highest isle in the world.

    The Glowing Shores - In the eastern Glass Sea, the gulf between Vaer and Panala near the Dragontail Mtns, a strange thing can be found — at certain times of the year, for extended periods, whole sections of the sea glow phosphorescently in rich blues, greens, and reds. Stranger still is that at these times the wildlife found in the seas there can also be found glowing in the deep. There are several theories that have developed in recent times having to do with the seaweed found at the sea bottom.

    Mt. Vaesu - In snowy, northern Dru can be found the angriest mountain in the world. Mt. Vaesu is a massively looming volcano, the largest in the world, its peak jutting up almost 5000 meters. It is unique in that, throughout the recorded history of the world of Palmyra and the dwarves specifically, it has never stopped erupting, slowly boiling red hot magma in its crater for seeming all of eternity.

  • An age old quandary — when WILL the next scourge of Palmyra arrive?

    From the beginning of history, through the ages, threats to the world’s security, stability, and freedom have arisen in different forms. Each of them has threatened the entirety of the world in various, though different, ways.

    The first scourge was the sudden appearance of the world’s first animeon, the dragons. They held the world in a century long stranglehold of terror and fire until their extinction at the hands of a coalition of disparate racial tribes, leading to the birth of civilization as Palmyra now knows it.

    There have been others through the years, including but not limited to the Great Scourge — a fungal infection that swept across the map, causing its victims to act in a strange, zombie-like fashion and leaving a lasting and strange fungal landscape still slowly growing across southern Panala — but all have one thing in common: There seems to be no preventing their arrival when they come. And that, at least so far, each has been weathered out by the peoples of the world.