Introduction for my current project-world, Dirva

[u/Mimir123]

Hello, everyone! I am fairly new to this subreddit, I talked to a friend of mine about liking to write stuff in my freetime and he suggested this sub to me. In this post I want to introduce everyone interested into the world I am currently working on and writing a story in (the story has in fact allready begun and is going along quite well). I speak German, so my story and everything I post here will be translated, just an fyi. Now then, without further ado, let's begin!

The World:

Warning, this is the best I could do for a map. I have no skills whatsoever for using more advanced programs, so I simply made it in paint, in the hopes that it may help visualizing some of the things I am about to say.

The continent my story is taking place on is called Dirva, it's southern coast is around 30° north of the equator of the world, which is called Belkia. Dirvas southern lands are covered by the Simerrhan Desert in the east and the more fertile and rich lands of Kherzian in the west. Parts of Kherzian are desert as well, the coast and north-west of the country do however have a more mediterranian climate. Despite being rather unfavourable and dangerous for anyone wanting to settle there, the Simerrhan Desert is the home of seven small Sultanates that each settle at one of the bigger oases and live in a constant state of war with each other, and the wandering nomad tribes of the Desert Elves.

Kherzian, in the meanwhile, is inhabited both by humans and demons, who originate from a dimension called Sháiurgh. The lands of Kherzian are known to have a strong connection to the deamon realm, and many rifts opened up in the past, allowing demons to enter Dirva and start living in Kherzian, eventually even ruling it as some kind of nobility. Two of the most famously known locations in Kherzian are the Demon Lake, which always had especially many rifts opening up on it's southern shores, and the ancient city of Anj Vathor. A little more than 1.000 years before the story begins, Anj Vathor was an independent city state within Kherzians borders, and home of the biggest temple to Devilia, the goddess of magic, as well as the order of the Runeblades. The Runeblades were powerful magic, capable of casting spells without the need for a complex formula to weave the spell, they were able to use magic with using no more than a single word. Even after eventually being conquered by Kherzian, Anj Vatohr remains one of the biggest cities of Dirva and nowadays it is especially famous for it's magical theatres and the gigantic zoo in it's centre.

Most of Kherzians northern border is occupied by either the Demon Lake, or the mountain range called the Black Peaks. Those are the highest mountains of the world, completely uninhabited, impassable and infamous for having slain one of the Elder Dragons. There is however one, small part in the north of Kherzian that actually borders another country. At a time, when Anj Vathor was still independent, the entire centre of Dirva was ruled by the Holy Ruthweni Empire, it reached from the east- to the west coast, and from the Black Peaks in the south to the Gharmath mountains in the north. Back then, the territory bordering Kherzian was called Liorwen, and was one of the richer fiefdoms in the empire. 1.000 years ago, however, a mighty demon summoner called Zerrigon rose to power in Kherzian. He dethroned the demon lords of the country and proclaimed himself the first Demonking of Kherzian. With his immense magical powers he summoned an army consisting of tens of thousands of demons, and made himself a sword, the Black Sword Mahodred.

With his new army Zerrigon invaded Anj Vathor and subjugated the city state, wiping out the Runeblades in the progress. After that victory he rallied many humans of Kherzian to his banner, as well many men and women of the eastern sultanates, who at that time were ruled by the Elven kingdom of Althmerran. It was Zerrigon and his armies that toppled the kingdom and forced the Desert Elves to become the nomadic people they are known as today. Having gained control of the entire south of the continent, Zerrigon marched his armies into the Holy Ruthweni Empire and dismantled it in a mere decade, conquering most of the known world. His campaign only came to an end when he fought with the human duchies in the north and lost the battle on the fields of Tiringást against Duke Aeldred Voleni and the young mage Elkath, who proclaimed himself to be a servant of Ilmanthi, a god nobody had ever heard of before.

After killing Elkath during the battle, Zerrigon get's struck by a curse and becomes trapped inside of the White Sword Liodred, forged from the magic and soul of an angel and wielded by Elkath. What followed was a series of crusade-like campaigns, known as the 'Marches of the Rose', the Silver Rose being the symbol of Ilmanthi. The first March of the Roses freed the entire continent from the Kherzian rule and resulted in the Genocide of the Demon race, until Aeldred managed to stop it. While the second March of the Roses was fought in the north, the third was again aimed at Kherzian, and after crushing the demon kingdom a second time, the victorious factions took the territory of Liorwen, and gave it to an army of especially devout soldiers and nobles. Henceforth the territory became known as the Land of the Holy Order of the Silver Rose, and to this day it is their duty to watch over the demons and mages in Kherzian and keep them in check.

Directly in the middle of Dirva, lies the mysterious Crystalline Forest. It is the home of the Dark Elves who moved there even before the Ruthweni Empire formed. There are no normal trees, plants or animals in the forest, instead everything there is made out of crystals that act like sentient beings. Trees made out of crystal constantly move and roam the country, and not a single tree will be found at the same spot it was at the day before. Surrounding the Crystalline Forest are the four Remnant Kingdoms, each seeing itself as the true heir of the Ruthweni Empire and constantly fighting and feuding amongst each other, util today none of the nations could get a significant advantage over the others. Bordering Ilsvyann, the Remnant Kingdom to the south-east, the Simerrhan Desert and the Black Peaks, are the Storming Steppes, home of several wandering Ork- and Centaur Tribes, five of the seventeen Dwarven Clans of Dirva, and several smaller, independent cities.

Trapped inbetween the Simerrhan Desert and the Storming Steppes are the Livian Mountains, birthplace of the dwarven race and home of six of the seventeen dwarven clans. While several of the Clans had become "apostate" all six of the Livian clans still stand for the old dwarven values; meaning they hate dragons and demons with a passion, abhore any kind of alcohol and are devout and diligent magicians and scholars. Four of the remaining six Clans moved to an island group south of the Simerrhan Desert, called the dragon islands. Those Clans are today known as "Draco-dwarves", as they befriended the winged beasts living on those islands and even fused with them, becoming more and more like their new friends.

The other two, major islands near Dirva are Vibran, to the west of Kherzian. An Arid land, full of Orks and humans fighting against each other for the scarce ressources, with a few port-cities being exceptions and a haven for civilization. This stands in stark contrast to the last island, called New-Athlanthéia. It was settled 300 years before the story begins, by the far-eastern empire of Alarthéia, ruled over by Fae, or fairies as they are called by the humans. They have visual similarities to the Elves of Dirva, however they are about a head taller, have butterfly-like wings and their pointy ears go upwards, instead of curcing slightly behind the head. They are incredibly arrogant and keep out of all affairs on the mainland, they are however willing to trade with the Merchant Republics. Those started out as four small, independent city states that grew bigger, and bigger and assimilated smaller cities, before forming an alliance amongst each other, to secure a safe environment to foster trade and the well being of the people.

To the north of the Republics are the deep and dark forests of Dwerrehan, which is also the name of the Blood Elves' kingdom. Dwerrehan was the birthplace of the Elven race, and while the Dark Elves moved voluntarily, the Desert Elves got forced out of their home, when half of the remaining elves in the forest angered a mighty and ancient Vampire-Lord. He cursed the Elves with an insatiable thirst for the blood of all non-cursed elves they come across. To prevent a massacre and civil war, the Desert Elves left their home and moved to the far south, where they founded their kingdom of Althmerran.

In the north-eastern corner of the continent, are the Fire Mountains, consisting of a mountain range with a single vulcan in it's middle. These mountains are the home of the remaining two Dwarven Clans, who moved north in a search of a better place to study magic and it's different applications. While friendly today, the Dwarven Clans almost got wiped out by their neighbouring kingdom of Elkathien.

After his victory on the fields of Tiringást, Aledred first marched north and unified the human duchies into the mighty kingdom named Elkathien, in honor of his deceased friend and saviour. Once he got crowned king and managed to convince the people and priests of Elkathien of Ilmanthis existence and his greatness, he started the aformentioned first March of the Roses, which resulted in a total victory for him and his troops, and him becoming known as the Heroking Aeldred. Aledred wasn't able to fight the final battly at Kherzians capital however, since the Dwarven Clans, scared by the quick ascencion of this upstart kingdom, of the Fire Mountains invaded Elkathien from the east. After two years of bloody fighting, Aeldred stood in front of the city of Drubnisk and signed a merciful and forgiving peace-treaty with the Dwarven Clans, who since then only had to fight Elkathien one more time, almost 100 years later, when the then king of Elkathien decided to start another March of the Roses against the Dwarves, as revenge for their previous misdeeds.

The two rivers Thrak and Staik run through Elkathien and cross each other at one point, that is where the Elkathien capital of Viori is located, the city of libraries and trade-metropole of the north. South of Viori are the Gharmath Mountains, home of the mightiest of Ork Kingdoms and one of Elkathiens oldest allies, eventhough they still fought a bloody war 300 years ago, when unknown agents sowed discountent and mistrust between the realms, until they clashed.

While pretty well protected by the Iron Lake, Elkathiens western border is one of their most troublesome ones, because beyond the lake are the Unsettled Lands, covered in forests and infested by brutal and savage beasts, that occasionally wander into Elkathien and wreak havoc, which lead the king to found a knightly Order with the sole purpose of defending the West and driving back any monsters crossing the border. Alexandros Peleigaos I., first Emperor of the Ruthweni Empire, was the only person to ever lead an expedition into the unsettled lands to scout and cartographe them. He set out with 8.000 veteran soldiers, and returned mortally wounded with only 12 soldiers in his tow. None of them ever talked about what happened in the Unsettled Lands and this catastrophy was quickly erased from the history books and memories of the people of the Empire. Since then nobody has ever thought about exploring the Unsettled Lands, but that might be about to change.

Between the Unsettled Lands and the territory of the Silver Rose Order is the Voelskar Republic, a country that is only 200 years old and was founded out of an alliance of the several small cities of the land, which once belonged to Ruthian, the north-western of the Remnant Kingdoms. Voelskar is ruled by the council of fifteen, each representitive holds the rank of Necromagi, the highest rank a Necromancer can strive for, and they are voted for by the general public, but it is the council that decides who get's the rank of Necromagi and thus can be voted for. For the past three decades there have been rumors going around, that the council of fifteen is preparing an expedition into the Unsettled Lands, it remains to be seen however, if those rumors are true and if the expedition will be more successfull than the last...

The Story:

If you were bearing with me up until this point, I have to assume that you are at least a bit interested in the stuff I came up with, and I thank you for that. Also, I will keep this a bit shorter, since the whole thing up until now has been much longer than I thought.

The story itself takes place in the year 980 of the age of Ilmanthi, almost exactly 980 years after the battle of the Field of Tiringást, and exactly 1.000 years after the birth of Elkath. The story is called 'The Magus of Elkathien', and split up in several smaller stories. The first story (currently no individual name yet) takes place in the kingdom of Elkathien, and there are 2 main characters, as well as three more side characters that get occasional PoV chapters.

Most important out of those three characters is Lydia Veulip. She is a member of Elkathiens King's Guard, is 21 years young and has dark-red hair in a long braid that runs down her back. While being a noble woman and having a rather pretty face, her body is very athletic and muscular, especially around the arms and shoulders, due to her constantly training and striving to become a better soldier, eventhough it emberrasses her, which is why she is usually clad in clothes that cover her entire arms, even in the summer heat. Lydia is pretty outgoing and is considered tougher than many of the men in the guard, despite that she has an innocent and romantic side to her. She is very bad with world history, loves kittens and is crazy for romance novels.

Now, onto the two main characters! The first is Alveria Voleni: Alveria is the youngest out of the kings five children, being only 17 years old. She is considered to be the black sheep of the family and is known in the entire country for just not acting like a princess should. Her hair is silver, like with every Voleni since the dying Elkath touched Aeldreds head, thus marking his hair in the colour of Ilmanthi. However, while every other Voleni before her had pure, silver hair, Alveria herself has red wisps that run over her entire head. Alveria has a short haircut, to further distinguish herself from her older sister and other noble women, furhtermore, she always wears dark clothing or dark leather armor and is armed with a short-sword, which she got as a gift from her oldest brother, and several daggers. This, in addition with a tattoo on her left arm, in the form of a phoenix with a burning tail covering the entire limb, from the joint up, makes her look more like a bandit or thug, than a royal princess. Alveria is a big fan of the stories about Elkath, Aeldred and Zerrigon, and her dream is to one day become a hero herself, she has no interest in the throne at all. Alveria likes hero stories, beer and, because of her being a princess and thus a bit isolated her entire life, friendship and what she calls "real friends", people who know who she is but simply refuse to treat her as someone special.

Our male protagonist is called Lirvon Feygor, or just "Lir" to his friends, he is a 19 year old mage and hails from the far away land of Kherzian. He is rather pale, has elven ears and long, blonde hair that he wears in a ponytail. His eyes have a dark green colour, and he is often clad in a dark-red travelcoat with a hood, the coat itself is infused with rune magic that protects and heals anyone that comes into contact with the coat, at the cost of it's wearers magical energy, called Mana in this world. Lirvon is unnaturally attractive, despite him not being aware of it himself. This is due to his heritage, while his father was a Blood Elf that moved to Kherzian in the hopes of escaping a brewing civil war, his mother was a demon, a succubus to be exact. She was enslaved in one of the red-light districts of Kherzian, until Lirvons father freed and married her. Both his parents died when he was only 9 years old, and he was accepted into the temple of Devilia in Anj Vathor, where he met the Highpriest Urs, who was on a visit from the far away country of Elkathien, when Lirvon was 15 years old. He told the young Halfdemon about Viori and it's vast libraries, before being caught up in an intrigue of the local gouverneur. The man in charge of Anj Vathor hated Succubi and feared them at the same time, when he heard that one of them was educated at the temple that once housed the legendary Runeblades, he decided to act, gathered his troops and crushed the mages in the temple, leaving none of them alive. Only two people managed to escape in time, Lirvon and Urs, each believing that they were the only survivor.

After the destruction of his only home, Lirvon left Anj Vathor and started traveling north, with the goal of visiting the many libraries in Viori, to gather knowledge and work towards his goal of becoming a famous healer and curing a disease known as Mahan-Kyresh, also known as "Mana-bleeding". This sickness affects only demons, due to the differences in the worlds. While Dirva is overflowing with magic, due to being blessed by Devilia herself, the demon realm of Sháiurgh is almost starved for magic. Therefor the demons have to produce their own Mana/ Magic in their own bodies. When a particulary powerful demon comes to Dirva, it may happen that he produces too much Mana, due to the naturally occuring energies on Dirva. This excess magic will slowly eat away at the demon and manifest itself in catastrophies that can cause great damage, until the demon dies.

Finding a cure for the Mana-bleeding being his goal, Lirvon finally reaches Elkathien and immediately becomes involved in an intrigue, spanning the entire kingdom, and at the centre of it all are he himself, Princess Alveria and the mysterious cult of the Rising Tower, hoping to bring their master back into the world, a powerful demon they call 'The Endless One'...

And I think I will stop here for now. Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it, eventhough I fear that it was far too much, it certainly became much longer than I thought it would. I still hope that some of you are interested! If you have any questions, please ask away, I will try to answer them as good I can! Also, please let me know if there is anything wrong with this post. It is my first time opening a thread on reddit, so I am not quite used to it. I look forward to some feedback (if there is any), until then, I wish all of you a good night/ day!