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 Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 7:32 pm
Anaur:
Land of Mana  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXTable of Contents:
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Table of ContentsXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
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History of AnaurXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
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ManaXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
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The Geography of AnaurXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
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The Nations of AnaurXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
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Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 7:36 pm
History Mana is an interesting resource: a liquid-like substance which has the potential to hold massive amounts of magickal energy. Certain stimuli can trigger a release of the energy. Each of the Anaur's three countries had developed and nurtured their own form of employing it, perfecting it until life was easy for all. Great cities grew out of mere villages, becoming wonders in the eyes of their own creators. Great houses, clans, and schools of thought emerged within all three countries.
But the peace was not last. They grew, and grew, until they used Mana faster than it replenished. Soon, the three races began to look to their neighbors mana wells and mines in order to maintain their lifestyles, particularly the Artificers of Lyr...
The war was bloody, one of atrophy. Each killed scores of the others, using the very mana that they were fighting for. All except a few Rogue Tribes of Runists, who took to the eastern mountains to avoid the war. The Artificers, those caught in the middle, took the brunt of the damage. The conflict lasted for a generation, and nearly all were killed, until all had lost sight of the goal, and went home to nurse their wounds and bury the dead. Survival became everyone's main goal.
That was generations ago. The population of the continent had been reduced to a tenth of its former glory. It had been reduced to shells of a city, mere villages. But, over time, shadows of civilization became more, taking form once more. Mana wells and mines, left virtually untouched and abandoned have had time to replenish- there is more mana available than there had been before, and much of it has been left untapped in long-forgotten wells.
Contact has been established once more between the nations. Some of the braver people have even begun to intermarry and have children, though the reactions to these are always either indifference or dislike, and inter-racial children are even rarer; For some reason, thought to be related to mana compatability, the... baby-making doesn't seem to take.
There is no sign of the depletion of mana, and no conflict... for now.
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Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 8:00 pm
Mana As said before, mana is a liquid-like substance which has the potential to hold massive amounts of magickal energy. It is mined and retrieved from wells. Its volume and brightness increase with the amount of energy within, though the former is not notable except in the most extreme of cases. Certain stimuli trigger the release of the energy:
Mental- Certain people, generally from the islands, are capable of triggering the release of mana energy with force of will. The mana seems to react to certain thoughts or movements of these few, taking on the properties of elements under their influence- Earth, Fire, Wind, Water. These elements are in turn combined and manipulated in different ways to obtain the desired results. The power is hard to direct, however; one can only give a general direction in most cases, arranging elemental energies in the air in the hopes of guiding the main focus energy, and hope things go as they seem.
Runic- Symbols paired with chanting, slight force of will, and mana can give a focused magickal effect. This too is a born trait, though nearly all of the southeastern peoples are exclusively capable of some degree of this art. It is much more controlled than the Mental form of magick, and can obtain diverse results. The downside, however, is that runes take large amounts of time, and are very tempermental if not done properly (think "Grammar Nazi's on steroids"). They also are not quite as strong as mental magicks.
Mechanical- applying a sudden pressure or increase in heat can elicit a quick burst of magical energy. The western continent is that which holds its greatest achievements. Mana is a very tempermental thing to stir up, and the artifacts built with this method require very thick padding and such to prevent disastrous results- to get the power of a small car, one must have something the size of a steam engine. In effect, it's more practical for Artificers to do things on a very large scale.
The source of Mana is a vague, unanswered question. The legends of the Eastern tribes speak of a Tree who's roots grow them. The Islands speak of the will of spirits. The Artificer City-States argue that a natural law governs the replenishing energy source, but are unsure as to what the law exactly is, though they offer theory after theory.
Storage- Those with any magical aptitude, meaning any Geosns or Runists are capable of finite storage of mana- about enough to sustain a small, bright light for a half-hour, which is not much at all. Anything exterting requires mana to be held in a container. Geosns simply hold Mana in small metal vials, or large containers if needed, which have been reinforced with earth energy. Runists use any container, with the stipulation that it has been runed on the inside in a special manner, which contains the mana, but does not consume it. Artificers just use really thick containers, with specially tempered metals, in some cases.
Finding and Getting Mana- Mana is taken from wells, though the methods of creating the wells and retrieving the well's resources changes from nation to nation. The Geosns have several people stand around and area and release a controlled blast to drill to the bottom, then reinforce the walls with Earthen mentalism, and then just pull the mana from the well in that way. The runists draw a circle of runes around the desired location, and activate it after pouring the appropriate amount of mana onto it, and drive the required mana out of the well when needed through the same sorts of runes they use to put mana into containers. The Lyrans drill down to it, and pump it out, filtering out impurities such as water and rock through machines as well.
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Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2006 3:02 pm
The Lay of the Land
The continent is a jagged, lumpy crescent who's ends nearly touch, a little smaller than 5/9 the size of our Australia. Between the points and towards the inner area of the cresent lie an island chain. The southeastern half of the continent has been rendered as desert, scrubland, and savanna by the ocean currents and mountains shielding the region from any large amounts of rain. Mana, unlike water, is most abundant in this area, due to naturally high sources, and the fact that the nomadic tribes occupying the region do not take mana from any one area for extended periods of time. Farther north and west lie more forested areas, with plains and plateaus inland. The Islands are tropical and subtropical in nature.
Key locations lie scattered about the continent. The majour settlement of the Geosns lies on the island in the center of the Anaurian Sea, where the first Mana spring lies. For the Runist Tribes, the majour (and only fixed) settlement of theirs revolves around the Temple on their first mana source- a natural well on the north-west end of the Rogue Mountains chain, known so for those once called 'traitors' of the Runists.
To the north of the continent, the sea weather becomes unbearably cold, and thus untraversable. Those trying to push their way south of the mapped area will find that as soon as any speck of island is within sight, that they are beset upon by drakes. For either east or west, the sea currents and wind patterns give birth to horrid winds and storms, preventing furthur travel.
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Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2006 5:21 pm
The Nations There are, as mentioned earlier, three nationalities, each unique in location, appearance, and trade. Note that they are nationalities, and not nations. The nations themselves dissolved with the war, leaving only the people who made up the nation to fend for themselves.The Lyrans These are the peoples who remained from the "United Republics of Lyr", Lyr being the slightly-self-centered man and great artificer who had brought the nation together through several means, though the details are hazy, and some would say shady. All they know is that after they were united, Lyr had made their lives easy, until the war came. Though they are hardly a nation anymore, some still call themselves "Children of Lyr" or "Artificers of Lyr".
They occupied the northwestern continent, covering the forests, planes, and plateaus with huge metropolii centered around the largest mana mines they could establish. Food was grown and harvested or killed for them by massive machines. Now, all that are left are shells, cities half-destroyed, with only semi-functional machines left. They are still habitable, but one would still have to find another way of getting food, since the vast agricultural machines have yet to be repaired, and the mana to restart them outweighs it, since they would produce more food than needed, and use more mana than practical for the population.
In appearance, Lyrans seem to be lighter in all aspects. Their hair varies from light brown, to red, to blonde, and shape borders on limitless. Their eyes are any number of colours, though brown and hazel are a rarity. They also pale in comparison to the other countries in the most literal fashion, in that they are comparatively light-skinned. They dress uniquely from person-to-person, and clothing is in no manner a reflection upon lifestyle, but on taste. They range from modest and practical to gaudy and attention-grabbing.The Geosns The islands scattered within the continent are populated with those capable of mental manipulation of Mana. They live off of the land, guiding it and nurturing it with earth energy derived from Mana. They obtain their Mana through wells rather than mines, blasting a controlled hole in the ground until they hit mana. The first source known was an odd spring which had small bits of magical energy in it. Its powers were realized when people began to be capable of odd feats near the river which the spring created.
In their better days, they lived in small, closely knit villages. They still do now, though they are still smaller now, and there are fewer of them. The largest of them is actually fairly populated in comparison, near the original mana spring, which has a shrine of a fairly large size dedicated to it. Naturally, the area around this shrine is very healthy and thick with growth- even the people are slightly fitter than the rest of their kind. They also are the most capable seamen (har har) of the continent, seeing as they are not actually part of the continent, but on an island chain, where these sorts of things are necessary.
In appearance, they are slightly more tanned and yellow in skin, with narrow hazel, brown, and in odd cases, grey, eyes. Their hair ranges from the mid-shades of brown to jet-black, and is more more straight or wavy than it is curly. Their frames are smaller, thinner, more accustomed to movement their heavily tropical forests. Their clothing is made by leaving as much cloth uncut as possible, while tying off at the waist with a rope or another cloth.The Runist Tribes 'The Runist Tribes' is a rather vague, catch-all term for the people who roam the desert and savanna-covered southeastern region of the continent, as each tribe is only loosely tied to the next, bound by a sort of racial pride. They survive primarily due to their ability to shape the world in strong ways. For mana and water, they can create temporary wells into the mana-rich desert through the use of a complex circle of runelore. For food, they roam their region of the continent, following the migration patterns of gazelle and other animals, while maintaining the 'greens' part of their diet by the consumption of hardy herbs and cactii.
There are no true cities of the Runists- there are hardly any permanent buildings of any nature at all. However, most are very specific with how their camps are set up- if one did not know any better, the small cities of tents were exactly the same after a move as before, except for the location. The one notable permanent structure of the Runists is one that all of the Tribes, and even the other two nations, hold in high regard. It is the first and only natural mana well which began their race's plunge into Magick. Around it a temple is built- one of high and rounded steeples and large passages. It remains one of the only things unaffected by the war, as all held it in respect, and seeked not to damage is should they eventually come to control it. Those near this temple experience the same sort of benifits that the Geosns near their shrine do.
The Runists by nature are the darker of the three nationalities. Their skin can vary from a tanned brown to an almost chocolate colour which varries by tribe. Their hair is either a very deep brown or black which look almost the same, and their hair curles quite a bit depending on lenth. Their eyes are normally a dark brown colour, but occasionally someone may have grey. They are a muscular and are built more heavily in general. Clothing consists of sandy coloured cloth which is very loose around the body and then tightened around the wrists, ankles, and waists. While traveling the desert their heads are normally covered to protect them from the sun. Some may also hide their faces in public.
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Posted: Fri Apr 07, 2006 2:22 pm
Creatures: Apart from the typical, every-day creatures known to our world, there are other denizens of Anaur. A barrier of small islands off of the map and to the south of the continent serve as the home to drakes. These large, winged serpents with considerable amounts of teeth are very territorial, and cut off the only route that would otherwise be reasonably safe to travel, since ocean currents to the east and west are treacherous, and the north is too cold. They can become longer than entire ships, and shrug off magical attacks, indeed, they seem not to care about any attacks by humans yet.
Smaller relatives of drakes survive on the southern islands and coasts of Anaur, Dragons. They are largely more earth-bound, with their wings lower down their back, growing to the size of a dog, and have legs, unlike drakes. In a few rare cases, they are domesticated for hunting purposes, though raptors are more appropriate and easier to train for this purpose. Unlike drakes, these are capable of breathing fire, though only if exposed to Mana.
Raptors are similar to hawks in this and our world, but are noticeably larger and more reptilian in nature, with scaled legs and feet, and a beak which is jagged in a way resembling teeth. Their skin beneath the feathers is leathery and tough to the point where arrowheads won't pucture through entirely.(To be continued)
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