#ruanhai

The capital city itself sits outside the reach of Oriancari influence, its hostile climate and canyon location making it a difficult region to travel to (via land or air). It is positioned atop a cliff on the far side of the Ruanhain Canyon from the rest of Vyrundal's civilizations. It isn't quite landlocked, a major river runs out of the Kirn mountain range and down south into the desert that shadows it. The city is located on a cliff overlooking its edge. The real issue, and the reason no Oriancarus has touched the region in a couple hundred years, is the influence of a surfacing underground of corrupt mages that plague the city. On top of that, is the amount of blight left behind in the wake of the previous Oriancarus's abandonment of his post.

The majority of Ruanhai's people live in poverty. My two Ruanhain characters (CoruKai and Algol) come from he slum district of Riaho, which Path frequents regularly due to the massive crack in the city wall at its edge that allows her to slip in undetected. The current Ruanhain kings are rather oblivious to the suffering of their people. It's a typical ignorant noble set up, except there is no middle class, you're either a part of the 1%, a member of the guard, or you're living in squalor.

I'm beginning to delve back into the different deities revered by the Ruanhain people. There is a diversity in culture and religious sects littered throughout a city that could probably use some divine intervention.

One of these groups, the Marazuli, fell victim to the Underground's (for lack of a better name) adoption of their cultural practice of tattooing their commitment to their patron deity. The dark mages, who's members are made up of many races and cultural origins, took the significant rite of passage and appropriated to their own, more heinous and twisted form of worship. Presently there are the Marazuli, upholding the values of a benevolent god, and then there are dark mages, twisting this practice in their cult to strengthen the message of a darker being. Of course Marazuli are unhappy with this because it misrepresents them and their culture as well as their deity.

I GOTTA DESIGN ME SOME GODS.

Anyway, these mages do a lot more than that. They are notoriously violent and the blood sacrifices of their victims remain a common occurrence. Their numbers rank in the thousands and as Ruanhai is conveniently nocturnal, active in the late afternoon and at night, they haunt the unlit streets of its slums.

Which brings to mention, in order to escape the overbearing heat of the day, many Ruanhains wait for the chill night air to move about its markets and resume their usual activities. Which is perfect in the light of their lanterns and the company of a crowd, but once in the otherwise abandoned sectors of the slums, the light fades and one needs to develop some awesome night vision to navigate their way through alleys and side streets.

It's people have all but forgotten Oriancari, as only the wealthy and educated are literate, their knowledge of the past is limited between generations of individuals. So when Path comes around, she sticks to the slums as there it is less likely for her to be discovered and easier for her to avoid guards and hunt down troublesome mages (who actually KNOW who she is). Other than that she's on the down low. Taking up residence out in the cliffs to the west of the city. A few years into her stay in Ruanhai she managed to locate her father's old lair/roost/temple and spent the next decade digging it out (much of the place's tunnels and architecture had since caved in, whether that was done intentionally or happened naturally remains to be seen). There are thousands of natural cave structures in the canyon, which attributed to the length of time it took her to discover its location.

Along with caves there are also relics of Vyrundal's ancient inhabitants. Orinacria may have been the first temple city created by the precursors, but it is not the only one. The sites in Ruanhai are far far smaller and not connected to the Allrian fissure, but they litter the desert landscape and were probably an attempt by the 'divines' to spread out from their place of origin.

Sources of industry, aside from crafts, include fishing, herding, basic crop growing and other agriculture. The band of traders Path befriends live nomadically with their flocks outside the city, bringing their goods in to trade and sell in its market. Unlike their city dwelling counterparts, the traders learn their lore by oral tradition. Because of this their leader at the time, Mekal, immediately knew what she was when their watch party stumbled upon her wandering about by the river on her second day in the region. And due to that, in exchange for mundane favors from Path, the elder was able to aid and advise her throughout the years during her stay until the day he passed away. *sad face* Mekal and his troop were a vital resource for Path. Along with exchanging information they've gathered from their travels and the promise of security, the traders would also allow Path to periodically take sheep from their flock. Not often, but enough for her to keep a constant store of food. The goats and cattle, however, were respectfully off limits.

I really need to get a solid design down for them out of all the nomadic troops because they're great and Mekal is an interesting guy.

 One of the things he warned Path about in her first week camping out in the open: Wildlife. There are Lotsa reptiles. Cats? Nah, reptile cats. Rhinos? Nah reptile juggernauts. Cliff Gliders are a given. Gliders are a rather dull species of dragon I've been rather consistent in sticking with who are too heavy to fly. So they get from place to place by riding the desert heat over canyon gorges on their massive wings. I'll probably come up with similar beasties as I go. There will be mammals but I will try to make them not boring. I will have a few traditional animals like coyotes or jackals and maybe vultures and eagles, but I want to see where I can go. Antelope and fish are kind of something I'm putting a random "do whatever the fuck you want with it" stamp on.

aaaand I think I've gone on long enough. Point is I'm trying to set the scene and sketches from last night have ranged from designs for guardsmen, average and royal, doodle mapping the city from overhead, figuring out plants, and animals. I want to get ontop of this so I have a solid concept to work with c: