#arldon

Intro

The main species of The Greater World, and the only intelligent species on Arldon, are humans. Although they have more or less all the features familiar to humans from Earth, there are a few slight differences. Firstly, evolution is much faster for humans of The Greater World. Adaptation and natural selection dig their claws in much faster; within one or two generations. This is best exemplified by the Eastern Rock islanders, who adapted to living underground. The second difference is a slight difference in the texture of their skin. Obviously all humans have varying skin textures, but Greater world humans this is exemplified, mainly dependant on where they lived. The atmosphere in The Greater World isn’t like Earth’s in the sense that it covers the entire earth completely and equally all the time. The Greater Worlds atmosphere shifts, and is unbalanced. Never are any humans in danger of being exposed to anything dangerous, but depending on where a person lives, their skin type will demonstrate the density of the atmosphere (along with weather and climate of course).

Sonnieres: The Sonnierre, from The Kingdom Sonn. Main features of Sonnierres are that they are short, the tallest on Arldon is 5″8. Soft, tanned skin which is easily bruised and scratched so they permanently wear long sleeves and trousers especially if they’re doing physical work. They have dark hair and are incredibly strong. The Kingdonm Sonn, was built by cattle ranchers who became royalty when they built the first Kingdom realm on their continent. Sonn cattle were the best in the Greater World, and due to their land mass they could build enormous cattle ranches that stretched on for miles and supply millions with their produce. Sonnierres are incredibly proud, loyal, stubborn and secretive. Before agreeing to live on Arldon, they had never made any agreement with any other nation. They relied on free trade and their quality of their produce to allow them to to business with other nations without agreeing to anything themselves. The Sonnierres believe in education above all else. In the Kingdom Sonn they would send children to school from ages six to sixteen, before they return to their family to partake in either physical work, or the business side of the cattle farms. On Arldon, they still send children to school, but since there is more opportunity to migrate to other areas of the island and a more variety of trades to enter, many Sonn children chose to not enter cattle farming and use their intelligence or skills else where, as the ranches are decidedly smaller or Alrdon, the Sonn farmers are not short of workers due to this.

Crestessi: From the Costal region of Crestos  in the Greater World. Their main features are black skin from generations of being in the sun all day as most of them are fishermen or otherwise work along the coast. Their skin is thick and incredibly rough and wrinkled, they are also prone to sun spots on thier faces, shoulders, thighs and the back of their hands. The Crestessi are an older generation on Arldon. Just before the great earthquake they experienced a massacre. Over night towns and villages were raided, young men and boys were slaughtered, their throats hacked at. Not a clean cut amongst all the dead, which led the Crestessi to believe that Nomads, who mainly lived off the land and made weapons out of rock or bone, were behind the attack rather than trained soldiers from a Kingdom or Citadel. There wasn't enough time after for proper investigations or revenge before the quake hit, thus making the remaining Crestessi wary and full of contempt for any nomad that comes to their land. This paranoia is what first led Caessa Linness to buy the land for Summercrest. Apart from wanting to secure a privileged future for his children, it was the geographical location of the land that swayed him. The expanse of the Scablands, meant anyone approaching, Nomad or not, could not go unnoticed. Similarly in the other direction, the ocean allowed perfect viability. Crestessi values are extremely different to that of the Sonn farmers. The older, working men, are the vocal part of the community. The men work, the own land, they, make up the table leadership serving under Caessa Linness. The men carry on the Crestessi lineage. The women stayed at home, they looked after the homes. They were unable to earn money, to own land to purchase goods. If they wished to order goods, usually from foreign traders, it was acceptable for women to arrange for the traders to come to their homes once their husbands were home to do business. No money would be exchanged until the traders arrived at the homes, so this type of business was quite unreliable. Ordering goods is one of the only chances a woman would get to venture out their homes, so even if they ran the risk of traders being unreliable, many women took this chance. After the massacre, there became a massive population of unmarried women, and young girls without boys of their own age. On Arldon, a few girls were able to go to school, if they could be succesfully smuggled across the marshes or on a ship towards Crestyl Bay, where they would learn languages, arithmatic, and history as well as socialising with boys and other children from other lands around the Greater World; a huge difference from their sheltered early lives. The unmarried women, however had difficult lives. Some returned to live with their parents, living under the thumbs of their fathers again. Some managed to buy houses of their own, using their deceased husbands names and money, occassionally grouping together to live in small bungalows to avoid suspicion. Apart from fishing being Summercrest’s biggest business and export, its second biggest business was prostitution. Male prostitution to be precise. The biggest import to the city was male hustlers from around Arldon, to satisfy the widows of Summercrest. 

Nomads: I’m not sure if nomads really count as a distinct race, but they’re a recognised social group so I shall include them. The Nomads are no singular race, although a particular group may consist of all Crestessi or all (______), as a group they are known as Nomads. In the Greater World, the only continent whose main population lived nomadically was Janeho. The people of Janeho, although made up of thousands of ever changing tribes and clans collectively named themselves The Children of the Sunship, a name which originated from a old folk tale, the exact details altering depending on which tribe is telling the story, but the general story was that Janeho began as a Continent of darkness. Storms flooded the sky, lightening and thunder was undending, the oceans would destroy towns and cities without warning. The sun never shone shone on Janeho, is was constant darkness. But one spring, when the harvests had failed again, snow still covered some of the ground, the elders of a tribe (always the tribe of the person telling the story) decided enough was enough. They needed to take their fate into their own hands. So, they united the tribes from all over the continent, each bringing man power and raw materials to build a ship. It was a glorious ship of quien wood, almost golden in colour and smooth.  When the Sunship was finally finished, the elders from the original tribe climbed aboard, and opened the sails. Strong winds lifted the Sunship into the air and carried it off to find the sun. For nineteen days, the sunship travelled to find the sun through black clouds and thunderstorms. On the Twentieth day, they finally found it, hiding behind dense cloud and stuttering and barely able to shed light. The elders on the ship, nursed the sun, they used all their magic and all their power to  heal the sun. Eventually it was healed. Rays of sunshine broke through the cloud, pushed back the floods and reclaimed The Greater Earth. Triumphant, the Sunship returned to its tribe. After celebrations, each tribe who helped build the Sunship helped disassemble it and each took a piece of it away with it as they went their seperate ways.  That is the story of how all Janeho nomads are united as a common race. In terms of features; their skin tends to be slightly yellow, not in a sickly way, but almost as if they’re glowing. Their eyes are bright colours; blue, golden or green. They tend to wear very simple clothes, no more than what they can carry. Although they do believe in education, they prefer to home school their young, and teach through morals, storytelling and in a very visual sense. On the surface they seem a very spiritual race, as their folklore and customs would suggest, however they are incredibly realistic, down to earth and very aware of their surrounding. As the moral to the aforementioned story goes, help others to help the unseen others. The Children of the Sunship never hesitated to help other’s, as they knew of the unseen repercussions of kindness.  Although on Arldon there are tribes of The Children of the Sunship, there are also nomdic groups of other displaced races, or simply people who no longer wished to live a stationary life. 

The iine - The iine are the people of the Mawwald Marshes . The live in huts just hidden from the coast of the island. For the most part, the marshes are a large flat area, with low growing shrubs, that stay hidden under the fog and mist that constantly covers the marshes, feeding off the little sunlight is filtered through. However, round the edges of the marshes, the ground level rises slightly, and tall reeds have grown, within which the iine built their huts. There are two main settlements, by the coast, but also by the foot of the hills in the sound of the scablands. This second settlements purpose, is to control the dams the iine built on the ____ river. This is perhaps the second coming of the iine damm, which they are particularly renown for. They can traverse the marshes to travel between settlements which relative ease, although it takes a few days and is advised not to go alone as it can get deep. The iine themselves, are quiet people, secretive, watchful. However they are also incredibly intelligent, and knowledgeable about their surroundings, allowing them to live and work their land, which minimal effort and maximum efficiency. Due to the aftermath, of the failure of the first iine damn, they are one of the most welcoming groups towards nomads, they learnt of the any skills they could learn from the nomads, and are always interested in doing business. However they are also incredibly wary of people such as the Crestessi, those who aren’t as respectful of their land and people.  Visually they are quite jarring, since living in the jeel mountains and creating relationships with nomads, the iine are no longer a “pure” racial group, (there are very few left). However this is impossible to tell, since they cover themselves in marsh mud for the majority of their lives outside. Apart from protecting them from the sun, it acts as perfect camouflage.

People of the South Mountains - Primarily people from Hogsdown, or any surrounding areas. They are possibly the friendliest and most open peopple o the Island, however, few get to experience this, since they were forced to live in solitary, in the mountains. They have strong bonds with the iine and nomads, since they trade with both, the iine also understand being forcerd to live in the mountains. But they are still friendly to all despite their treatment. They are also intensely underestimated, mainly due to their scarcity, but have become expert miners, hunters, tradesmen etc. Physically, they are mainly white skinned, although, as life on the island continues, more relationships between them and nomads or the iine develop, this is becoming happily diluted. 

People of the North Mountain - Practically no-one lives on the north mountains. They too cold all year round, and during winter, the snow would strand them there. However occassionally, someone will attempt to cross the mountains at an inopportune moment, such as the Illandes family. Origianlly from the Gollmoth Mountains surrounding the Kingdom Sonn ranches, led by Raef Illandes, they were looking for land similar to where they had left. He took his family deep into the mountains, and to everyone’s surprise stayed there. No-one else knows what they found within the North Mountains, and no one else has managed to gain acces, last a winter there, but the Illandes family have. Occasionally they’ll reappear during the summer months to stock up of food and to trade, small knick knacks, they have created within the mountains, but for the most part they remain in the mountains.  Physically they were incredibly intimidating. They constantly wear winter clothing, head to foot in hide, leather, fur-lined shoes, gloves and hats, they carry with them extra sleeping mats, tents, snow shoes, kindling, and food, almost everywhere they go in case of blizzards or avalanches. Originally they had bright red hair, and while some members of the family still retain this trait, others have lost it. Although the Illandes people will happily help out lost travellers on the mountains, they are oddly aggressive about hospitality, and welcoming people actually into their mountain.  Most travellers who encounter them, have spent maybe a night in their tents with them, before being sent back down the mountain, going the correct direction this time. 

Arldon has a multitude of geographical features and varying climates for such a small island. To divide up this description it’s best to describe how the island is divided (both socially and climate-wise.  Arldon is largely referred to via the North and the South (although these regions aren't specifically due north and due south., the north being everything roughly north and east of the centre bottleneck of the Island and the South being everything south and west.

The South - The South Is largely a warmer climate that the North. A large part of this region is taken up by the Scablands, a large area of desert with a few rivers running through, though they are far apart, so it is incredibly difficult to cross the Scablands without proper preparations. During the summer months, the rivers largely dry up, leaving a few oases dotted in the sand. The only prosperous city in the Scablands is the fishing port Summercrest, which is only fully functioning as it was built around the estuary of the rivers that cross the Scablands.  Due north are the Sonn Downs, a vast grassy flat land that farmers, originally from the Kingdom Sonn, claimed as their own. It is a moderate temperature, occasionally receiving hot, sandy winds from the south, or colder winds from the mountains in the east and south east. During the winter, storms stir off the northern coast, and the farms will be bombarded with torrential rain and missile strength winds. Occasionally a tornado will form out to sea, but rarely makes it to land.   To the south east of the Scablands, is Mawwald. Marshes. The majority of the mountain streams run off into the Mawwald marshes, the warm air from the desert helps heat the hair and water, although the hill just north of the marshes shield it from any strong winds. Rather than the dry heat of the Scablands, Mawwald is moist, sticky and humid. Flies buzz around the flooded grasslands. Few live in Mawwald. Few can. There’s an unreliable, infrequent trade of cheap, black market freshwater and salt water fish out off the marshes. Some swear by their cheap prices, others curse their poor quality products. Finally, apart from the Island bottleneck, the only thing separating the North and the South are the South Mountains, running from Mawwald to the Sonn Downs along the spine of the Scablands. Not as tall as the North Mountains and situated in a warmer climate, they only occasionally receive snow and are therefore more easily inhabitable and can be successfully crossed on foot.

The North - The North only really becomes much colder than the South on the very northern coasts. The land just west of the North Mountains, along the bottleneck is probably the most pleasant climate, still with the warmth from the south, but away from the desert air and with coast to the north and south to provide ventilation. This accounts for the placement of the main city of the North, Crestyl Bay. The low hills also provide fertile land for small scale cattle grazing and harvesting, though as the land is the most densely populated, anything larger than personal sized farming is unattainable. To the East are the North Mountains; the highest range on Arldon, and are topped with snow year round, however during the winter months, they are uncrossable; luckily they aren't blocking any area of land exclusively, travel is just slightly harder. South of the mountains are mainly coastal towns and villages, experiencing slightly warmer weather than the coastal settlements north of the mountains, although apart from a slight shift in mean temperature, climates are almost identical. However, following the eruption of Mt Arre, south of the mountains received deposits of ash. Most infrastructure was able to be rebuilt, and luckily that ground was never used much for farming anyway, but now trodden down layers of ash are part of the land.  The northernmost peninsula, is almost entirely flat, and occasionally floods, therefore most buildings are build on either high ground or stilts. Settlers of the peninsular live off fish and water trade from the Sonn farmers. Lastly, the far east. Boasting the greatest beaches on Arldon, they also boast the some of the coldest temperatures on the island, excluding the mountain tops. Also on the east coast is Moon Cay (on a low tide, the peninsular is a perfect circle connected to the mainland. On a high tide is is a small crescent moon shaped islet), but usually, the walkway is only partially submerged and still easily crossed

Off Arldon: Koul is a small island just south of Crestyl Bay, it originally housed a large boarding school, for ages eleven to sixteen for both boys and girls. A success until the eruption of Mt Arre, when the large deposits of ash rendered the school, unusable until the island had been cleared. There were no fatalities, but the deep ash piles on and around the school made it unsafe for permanent residence. The remains of the school are still intact, and slow renovations and improvements are still underway, as workers can spend a maximum of a few days there at a time.  The Eastern Rock is a large Island of the south east edge of Arldon. Originally a fertile, large island, taken up largely by a dormant volcano, Mt Arre, the rock also features grasslands, high cliffs and beaches. However, not long after a small settlement of disillusioned Arldoners went to live on the rock, Mt Arre erupted, enlarging the rock’s size considerably and covering it in metres of igneous rock and ash, rendering it completely infertile and uninhabitable. Although, somehow it still contains sustenance as some of the rock Islanders managed to survive the eruption.