The world known as Mallora is home to many races and cultures, all of whom are currently in danger. The great Kingdom of Tycoon, under the harsh rule of King Roland Darksteed Tycoon, has began to think about war. Roland is obsessed with the idea that he, as King, is the rightful heir to all the world's magical power and, more specifically, the Crystals. Currently, he is amassing a great force to take the neighbouring kingdom of Walse, and capture the sacred Crystal of Water. Meanwhile, Walse and the kingdom of Karnak are discussing plans to ally themselves and defeat Tycoon, even while both separately search the world through free agents for the lost Earth Crystal...

Castles

Tycoon Castle

This is, currently, the keystone to the world's politics. Inhabited by a huge population, Tycoon has grown far beyond its original walls, and a shantytown has sprung up around it. Tycoon Castle is now very broad, a dull grey colour from poor upkeep, and seems very dismal and depressing, especially compared to, say, Castle Walse. The reason for this is the current, very pro-military rule. King Roland fancies himself the great conqeror, and has been building a huge army around Tycoon for the past eleven years of his reign. The influx of military personnel has taken its toll on Tycoon, and its resources are now almost entirely depleted. Crops are dying. Iron and other mineral resources have become scarce. Chocobos are now almost extinct in the neighbouring wilderness, with most having been domesticated for cavalry mounts. The populace are generally unhappy about this, but feel they can do nothing, especially since the entire problem stems from the fact that their kind is building an army. Most realise that an open revolt would be suicide. Still, dissent flourishes.

Military Strength: Tycoon, at the moment, is nearly invincible in terms of military power. After ten years of recruiting and training, a huge number of troops are now ready for action. They are mainly footmen with swords, spears, and bows, but many specialty forces have been assembled: chocobo-riding cavalry, Mages of all different colours as support, Engineer's corps for siege warfare, etcetera. Tycoon is ready for war.

Key Figures in Court: The primary figure in court for the moment is King Roland himself. Drunk with the power kingship gives him, he is thoroughly mad, and is willing to sacrifice anything to claim all the crystals for his own. His wife, Alicia, is now scared of him, and is planning to run away to Walse with her newborn son, Alexander Highwind Tycoon. She fears, however, that her husband will only fight that much harder to get them back. Next is Court Magistrate Galan, a Paladin of the highest order and the chief law-maker of the kingdom. He realizes that Roland is mad, but also knows that he could not defeat the king without help. Further, the loss of the king, with no heir of ruling age, would be a disaster and could mean the end of the kingdom. He is attempting to aid Alicia in leaving, but encourages her to go to Lonka instead of Walse, for his own reasons (see Lonka). Last but not least is Admiral-In-Chief Cerlan. He is Roland's right-hand man, and chief tactician for the Tycoon army. He has been pushing Roland towards his aspirations of grandeur for the past ten years, encouraging his madness. While this is readily known, no one knows exactly why he is doing so.

Castle Walse
Home to the Water Crystal, and a trading giant on Mallora. This is current the most prosperous nation in the world, the most expansive, and also the most vulnerable. While its military would be adequate given normal circumstances, with Tycoon gathering its strength, Leopold, the king of Walse, has been unwise in not responding to the threat earlier. Only now has he began supplying his out-lying holdings with troops, and building up his own navy. Unfortunately, this is too little, too late, and nothing short of an alliance with Karnak or a miracle can save the Kingdom of Walse now.

Military Strength: Walse, as stated above, is highly undermanned. Its military primarily consists of naval-oriented weapons: galleys, trained sailors, Mages with Lit spells, and the like. In fact, its ground forces are roughly one twentieth of Tycoon's.

Other Holdings: Walse has strong ties to the towns of Tule, near the Torna Canal, Karwen, near the Northern Mountains, and previously held a port on Crescent Island (now deserted).

Key Figures in Court: King Leopold Gunther Walse, while a pleasant enough fellow, is something short of a genius. Walse is indeed flourishing under his rule, but it is more his advisors' credit than his own. His main advisors are Baron Peter von Scherz, uncredited Minister of Finance. He, in the king's stead, has seen the economic empire of Walse expand greatly. He is a thin, jovial little man with curly auburn hair. Next is Jalna Kammer, who sees to the king's wellbeing, as is very concerned about his current lack of an heir. This stems from the fact that Leopold has not yet married, despite his age of 31. Jalna herself is rather attractive, but has turned down even the king himself as a suitor. She prefers her independance.

Castle Karnak
Home of the Fire Crystal, Karnak currents holds the immense distinction of having the sole sane ruler in the world. Now, while it lacks any real holdings or great strength, it's sheer technological superiority over all other nations is unmatched. The Lylla, Domine, and recently, the Previa families all have produced an huge number of brilliant engineers, ship cheifs, and inventors. No where else in the world is the smell of burning coal and smelting iron more prevalent. However, in recent years, Karnak has had to reduce its normal exports, fearing (rightly) that selling weapons to Tycoon would be their downfall.

Military Strength: Karnak holds a small military, but a tremendously well-armed and trained one. Most have the Tool Mastery skill, and all are skilled in their area. The Karnak military has equipment to put Tycoon to shame, but has no one to use it.

Key Figures in Court: Queen Sylvie Lylla Karnak has been the queen of Karnak for the past four years, replacing her father after his death. She has acquired much acclaim as a calm, rational ruler, and has nurtured much young talent in her kingdom, for future gain. The most promising of these, Cid Previa, is detailed below. She is unmarried.

Key Figures Outside of Court: The current talk of Karnak is ten-year old Cid Previa. Son of the renowned Sid Previa, inventor of the music box, Cid has, even at his young age, surpassed his father. It was his invention, the Fire-Power Engine, that allowed the full use of the Fire Crystal to be realized. With the F-P Engine, any ship carrying the Fire Crystal can now move faster than any other yet known, by about three times normal speed. Queen Sylvie has taken note of this, and keeps tabs on young Cid.

Major Towns

Tule: The Bard's town. A subsidiary of Walse, Tule has expanded much recenetly due to the completion of the Torna Canal, by former Mayor Zokk. This has aided communication with Walse and Karwen immensely, as well as trading, and Tule is doing well. It is known as a Bard's town due to the high proportion of transients that pass through it; heroes, bounty hunters, and the like. And, given the high number of bards among these travellers, Tule has become a musical hotspot.

Karwen: Nominally loyal to Walse, no one truly trusts the people of Karwen, even the Karwenians themselves. They tend to be shifty, suspicious people, and with good reason: only recently have trade sanctions been lifted from them after their failed attempt to conquer Lix 187 years ago. Not that the sanctions were paid much attention, of course: in fact, the King Leopold of Walse, upon hearing of the sanctions, exclaimed the immortal words "you're joking, right?" The sanctions were eventually lifted, but Karwenians have not forgotten that they were, at least on paper, oppressed for just short of two centuries. Karwen's main purpose is a mining town, searching the nearby Northern Mts. for valuable ores.

Crescent: Not much to see in Crescent. With a dull mayor, no alleigances with other, larger nations, or natural resources, Crescent is as uninteresting as towns go. Its only claims to fame are it proximity to the last remaining Black Chocobo forest, though the birds are supposedly exitinct or nearly so, and its status as hometown of the great folk hero, Daphne Rivan.

Lix: The embodiment of the small town, Lix is not terribly exciting, though still more so than Crescent. It is primarily a farming community, and has yet to get involved in a significant world event.

Other Landmarks

Northern Mountains: Just north of Karwen, the Northern Mountains are of note because of two facts: first, it is one of the few ranges with a usable path into them. Second, it is rumoured that the legendary Flying Dragons live in the caves near the peaks, waiting to be awakened. However, seeing as no one has seen them, it is assumed that, if they wanted to be woken up, they'd simply listen for the cockerel like everyone else.

Library of the Ancients: Home to the greatest collection of knowledge in the world, the Library is a vast storehouse of countless books and scrolls. It keepers, even though sometimes raised the Library itself, never actually end up knowing the location of every single document. A search for a single scroll can take weeks. Still, there are some things worth waiting for...

Lonka: Located at the centre of a vast, ever-shifting pool of quicksand, the Lonka Ruins are the least-visited area in the world. The remains of a once-great civilization, Lonka is now only a collection of broken-down stone buildings. Still, it is known that something lives within, as a fire is lit there every night.

Shrine of the Wind Crystal: Beautiful and serene, the Shrine is the holding place of the Wind Crystal. However, it is so rarely visited that no one has an opportunity to appreciate its beauty.

Famous People

Warriors of Dusk: Claiming to be the greatest heroes of the age, the Warriors are simply a group of five pompous, if extremely powerful, adventurers who fight "evil" for fun and profit. They are: James DelRama, a Knight, Will, a Bard, Temya, a Black Belt, Jeki, a Beast Master, and Emma, a Fighter. All are pompous and overbearing.

Daphne Rivan: the only famous Caller in Mollora's history, Daphne is quiet, reserved, and selfless. She fights for what she believes in, which usually coincides with what the common folk believe, making her a favourite among them. She comes from Crescent, and is not proud of that fact.

Ihan the Great: a self-important Barbarian, Ihan gave himself his name, the Great. He is big, strong, and completely inept in social situations.

Pellando: the greatest wizard in the world, by all reports, Pellando is known as being very mysterious. In fact, no one has seen him for over fifteen years. Still, the legends of his power are very much in the populace's minds.

Current Rumours and Lore

There are supposedly tiny, white-furred goblins living in the forest east of Tule. There is much music that stems from that forest, but no one dares check what goes on there at night...

Pellando has not been seen for many years, and some fear that he has been imprisoned by King Roland. Others fear that the wizard is in the clutches of something much worse...

Obviously, the impending war between Tycoon, Walse and Karnak is very much on everyone's minds. Many are fleeing to Lix and Crescent to escape.

Karwen, according to rumour, is on the brink of revolt against Walse, and may defect to Tycoon when the war begins.

Karnak's star inventor, Cid Previa, may not be what he seems. Some say that the boy has been seen consorting with tiny humanoids with huge hair.

The Warriors of Dusk are expected to announce which side they will take in the war within the next few weeks. Although no one is sure, it seems likely that they will go with Tycoon, simply because it's the easier fight.

The town of Lix has been terrorized recently by a huge, lizardlike creature. It's supposedly as large as a ship, and covered in dark olive scales that are harder than steel.

It has been suggested that there is something seriously wrong with the King of Walse. Apparently Leopold has been wearing his mistress' undergarments...

Finally, the Wind Crystal has been taking an odd turn of late- it seems to be glowing more brightly than ever before. No one has an explanation, though.