The Sacred Lands
It begins as a rebirth- a world coming out of demise and into prosperity. This world is Aramon- the world of plenty. Long ago a tremendous war, called the "Withdrawal," transformed Aramon into a veritable wasteland of deserts and mountains. When the smoke cleared, only three small areas remained untouched- these lands are known as the Sacred Lands, and were (And still are) kept organized by the Valars, the protectors of the Sacred Lands. With time and with the help of the Valar the world slowly came back into civilization. From Neolithic style villages came city-states, with city states came societies, and with societies came empires. The world, blown back by wars, rebounded into a pre-renaissance era of prosperity. But none of this could have been possible without the Sacred Lands.
A history of the Sacred Lands
It was the Valar who first maintained the Sacred Lands, and it was because of them society progressed. The Valar after the war maintained administration over everything that happened in the Sacred Lands. They established systems of government to watch over the lands. The Valar gathered together all the livestock, growable crops and remaining artifacts and began utilizing them to the best of their advantage. With time livestock multiplied and villages grew.
The Valar, always thinking ahead, foresaw an eminent danger arising. The Sacred Lands were being used up. As the population steadily grew, the depletion of resources did as well. The Valar in each separate Sacred Land quickly grouped together to devise a plan. Their first attempt was by request. They would ask for anyone to move out into the desert, but, as the answer was expected, the people declined, for there was no survival beyond the desert. Only adventurers could traverse desert, and even then it was extremely difficult. Survival was only possible within the Sacred Lands.
The Valar now needed to devise several strategies. On one end they used more educated scientists to study ways of surviving beyond the Sacred Lands. Each Valar scientist moved to the edge of the Sacred Lands and studied the habits of the deserts, the different surviving plants, and even different cross-breeds in order to find the perfect growable crop. They also studied various survival skills which were important as well.
There was, however, a more nastier end to the Valar's population control, and that was pure population control. The Valar were forced to erect extremely harsh laws punishing almost all doable crimes with death. This turned out indeed to control the population, but it also made way for more problems. The people, after much persecution, were left at ends with the Valar. They were all on the brink of rebellion. War was a new ideal in the emerging societies. Fighting was something the people could not do after the Withdrawal, but with the advent of technology, people had the new ability to wage war. Rebellion, seen as eminent to the Valar, was prepared for by each Sacred Land. The Valar vigorously trained individuals to bear arms. The grueling procedures made the Valar armies more elite than any other units ever seen in Aramon history. As the wars started the Rebellors, armed lightly and with primitive weapons (Stone, Farming equipment, etc.), were easily repulsed by the Valar factions. From this day forth the Valar would be known as the powers of the world, and were all feared by everyone. Although unrest and hate were common, rebellion did not seem like a threat to the sacred lands any more.
Eventually, over a long period of time, the Valar scientists came across the perfect plant. Named mimmett, it actually depended on desert conditions and was edible in several different parts. It's bulky leaf could be used as a green and it's fruit had many purposes. The fruit itself was sweet, but inside the fruit was a set of seeds much like wheat. These seeds could be used to make bread, a necessity in civilization. The only problem about the plant was the fact that it required a undesertlylike amount of water. This problem, to the discovery of the Valar, sparked the greatest discovery in Aramon history.
Underneath the earth is an enormous limestone deposit. Limestone has the unique ability to trap fresh water and create humongous beds of water known as aquifers. The first discovery was made by a person, unknown by name, who swam into the lakes in one of the Sacred Lands (All of the Sacred lands have at least one lake). Through further inspection he discovered there was much more to the lake than just what was seen. The lad noticed the lake actually extended further underground. Just how further was unknown to him, but in any case he discovered a vast supply of water. Water is life, and since water is life, the desert could be readily populated with the new mimmett plant and the vast network of aquifers. Soon each of the Sacred Lands would make similar discoveries. The aquifers were studied, to see where they ended, but it was so massive that further examinations were journeys in themselves (Which, in truth, extended for thousands of miles).
The Valar spread the news of these two new discoveries and promised to all leniency if all people left for the desert. Over many years the people did move out of the Sacred Lands, and over time the deserts did get populated. As the desert was explored more, it was noticed that in some places the aquifers were readily accessible. Creating another vast network of oasi, which in turn propagated more expansion.
This was the dawning of a new age, when the Sacred Lands no longer surrounded life, but when the desert was as readily suppliable as the Sacred Lands. Now the Sacred lands were not as populated, and the Valar, successful, gained their own holy lands. They began as they had hoped - to isolate themselves.
With more time the deserts had farms, villages, roads, and animals everywhere. The desert became as technological as any other world. This isn't to say life was harsh- it still was- but life beyond the Sacred Lands was now made possible because of the advance of technology.
Of life in the desert
Water is not the only resource. Wood is needed for fire, but wood is scarce, and buying wood from the Valar is not a daily task (Wood is not cheap). But oil exists. Oil exists in multitudinous amounts, much like water (Although not nearly as massive). Oil fields line the globe too, and because of this pleasant supply, fire can be made. With fire, anything is possible. Iron can be forged, hides can be tanned, and houses can be warmed (It gets cold at night). So with fire, society could progress further into the desert.
Also people used to believe that after the Withdrawal life did not exist beyond the desert. This, to their surprise, was not true. Most of the life forms in the desert were animals who ventured out into the desert after the war, only to evolve over thousands of years to live in the deserts. Fantastic beasts, monsters, and other various animals were quite numerous in the desert, and because of this a wide variety of different huntable meats existed.
Camels were now the most common form of mounted transportation. Horses are but rare creatures owned by the Valar. If one wanted to travel the desert, he would need a camel. They can walk for days without water, and all the while they can still carry heavy loads necessary for extended travel. Because of camel transportation, societies could meet one another, and with this they all made a surprising discovery.
It was to all foreigners amazing how similarly each Sacred Land handled its own affairs. The same methods of governing, the same ways of researching their environments, and even the same plants- mimmett, were discovered. The peasant revolts all occurred at around the same time, and the installation of the armies did too. For some reason some force bound the people in such a way only some supernatural being could have done so. This was the beginning of the new Aramon religion. Ever since the Withdrawal, people believed that all deities were destroyed, but for some reason a higher force still existed within the world. This force bound the people so that their civilizations could grow with greater ease. Once people began understanding this fact they began to worship the one mysterious god, whom they named Avelar.
The new religion revolves mostly around progress of society. Their god, Avelar, is a kind god who looks after the progress of society. One who does not follow the rules of progress, or one who strives to turn progress astray (i.e., a thief), will meet utter punishment in his/her future life. This is a vague description of the religion, called Avelism, because it is practice in a widely diverse sort of ways. But all the people worshiped one god, who apparently did not care for helping a single country, for he would grant clerical powers to all who worshiped him. Yet not a soul has seen this god, nor does one know who this god is. But the people still worship him, and because of this they receive his mysterious powers.
After civilizations established themselves beyond the Sacred Lands, scholars began fierce research of the long-lost art of magic. The scholars, being mostly Valar, gathered all the lost documents of old and attempted to retranslate them. With much time magical powers unlocked, and slowly the rebirth of magic was fulfilled. First were unlocked the weaker, level one spells that all wizards would know, but as scholars studied harder spells of all style were unlocked. True many a spell proved worthless in a desert world, but at least the knowledge was there, and soon the Valar began to utilize this power to their greatest advantage.
Of the Valar and Religion
The Valar do not practice Avelism. They know of the destructive powers of gods, and viamently oppose any worships or powers of gods within their sacred terrain. The Valar opt to destroy any god, and have vowed to discover Avelar in order to restore what they believe is peace and order. Because of this the Valar are put at great odds with Lhunists. Whenever an army with a group of Avelists enters their territory, the Valar fight with their own troops in order to draw out the clerics, priests, druids, etc. This is a very undesirable consequence for an invading army, since the Valar are far superior in technology, resources, and military might than any of the desert civilizations. Clerics, if there are any, must act stealthily in the Sacred Lands. They must wear normal clothing and not present their holy emblems unless called for. Outside the Sacred Lands Avelists are fine, but within the Sacred Lands they must not be caught, or they would face the direst of consequences.
The Modern Valar
The Valar, much like their predecessors, are the protectors of the Sacred Lands. They care for it, guard it and organize it to their society's advantage. The Valar occupy numerous professions, from farmers, government officials, soldiers, wizards, to scouts. Each Sacred Land has approximately three million Valar living within its limits. Most of the elves in Aramon are Valar. Every Sacred Land has a central city to which the Valar reside. These places are called Valar Institutions, and are open only to special Valar. One can only be born into Valar society. Outsiders are forbidden.
However, many countries look to the Sacred Lands for crucial resources not found in the dry desserts. The Valar must protect their borders, but they does not wish for countries to come in, so they have established a monopolistic trade system- trading with whomever they deem worthy. Their vast resources are traded to all, but there are countries the Valar trade with more heavily than with others. This is because the Valar understand that by trading more with the powerful countries, the threat of being attacked by them is lessened, decreasing their chances of having to deal with war. The Valar determine who is the more powerful of the countries by studying them, and after studying them they draw mock borders within their territories, representing how much each country "owns" of the Sacred Lands. After all is said and done, merchants are sent into each countries capital, trading with them all the precious goods they bring, and then the respective goods are then traded to the citizens.
Why doesn't a country fight the Valar, then? Why must they let the Valar opporate such a vast monopoly? The answer to this is vital. The Valar are more powerful than any other civilization. They have superb advantages over practically everything- loyalty, training, technology, and magic (The one exception, of course, is priesthood, which they've abolished). A country foolish enough to take on the Valar puts itself in utter devastation. A person stupid enough to challenge a Valar soldier would be mincemeat. A wizard trying to outwit a Valar wizard is doomed. This is all because the Valar trained themselves for so many years to gain the Sacred Lands. The Valar leaders understood the importance of a strong military might to hold on to their Sacred Lands forever, without foreign intrusion; they increased their powers as the years rolled on, and the Valar would pass on what they learned to future generations. Since the Valar decided to let countries have access to their resources, disputes between the Valar and neighbors were few.
Another important note to make of the Valar is their secretiveness. Few ever see Valar operatives. A lucky soldier may happen upon some Valar farmers, but a lucky soldier would very rarely be able to speak of an encounter between himself and someone from a Valar Institution (Except for, maybe, a Valar soldier). The Valar that reside in Valar Institutions never show themselves to lesser beings, and only their representatives show themselves to nobles and leaders in discussing war, and their merchants who appear to the government officials are oftentimes seen, but normal people rarely converse with them. Even Valar don't see their own people. A Valar farmer will never be allowed inside an Institution. Some Valar do not even know who their leader is. Certainly no one living in the desert knows who the leader/king/emperor/president etc. is, for the Valar so isolate themselves from society that every person is denied access. Whenever Valar go out into the desert (For information, fun, or other things of that nature) for reasons other than diplomacy and trade, they disguise themselves and hide their powers so no one would know (They still dress appropriately on diplomatic missions, it's just that they don't worry about keeping their identity a secret).
By the way, on a few occasions the Valar will let countries, after successfully (emphasis on successful) requesting permission, march an army into their borders in order to get to another side. The army, of course, would be monitored extremely closely, and any attempt or sign to disrupt the Valarian empire would be hastely dealt with. Reinforcements would be treated in the same way. Such an example would be that of Myone, who was captured by Narog from the Dresden republic, who is on the other side of Narog's empire. This is mostly done to maintain good terms with other countries.
The reason Valar at this point in the game have importance to player characters is that they are powerful, they distribute resources from the Sacred Lands accordingly, and they are extremely secretive.
The three Sacred Lands
The three Sacred Lands go as follows- Dalvania by the northern mountains, Eldamar by the southeastern mountains, and Myssa in the west. All three are run similarly (Despite how separate they were), and each, except for Dalvania, has border disputes. Each Sacred Land has approximately same types and amounts of resources. The Sacred Lands all have wood, considered precious to desert folk, grass, various vegetables, horses (Restricted to Valar use), pigs, cows, sheep, poultry, flowers (For dye making), various insects, exquisite clays, cotton, and other important things. These seemingly abundant items in our world are widely sought after by all, and because of this the Sacred Lands are still central to Societal life.
This is just a brief explanation of what is known in order to get you in tune with what the world is like. Questions do obviously remain, but what this essay is is a groundwork for Aramon, and it gives one a chance to understand what kind of environment is to be dealt with.
DS Roark