Viranna Isle

Viranna Isle, despite its name, is a rather large island that is part of Everwealth Cluster that features beautiful natural landforms and lush regions of wildland. Before the discovery of Aetheryte within the Everwealth Cluster a hundred years ago, Viranna Isle was a niche vacation spot full of wildlife and unknown dangers. The technological opportunities brought an influx of people to the land, rapidly transforming the urban nature of civilized life on the island. Now, you can find large, secure urban cities scattered around the isle, all connected by decent roadwork. Littering the roads in habitable areas are smaller towns that were deemed unfit for civilized growth, and thus remain rural. However, most settlements are well-equipped in defending themselves from the barbaric creatures that still make the isle their home. It is here, between the dichotomy of long-lost artifacts and modern capitalism, that opportunity is teeming with potential for money, adventure, fame, and thriving power. It is here that adventurers find their start, wading their way towards their destinies, whether that be rotting at the bottom of a dungeon, finding their end at the hands of an evil noble, or seeing glory with their own eyes, revered by the public as heroes of the land.

Geography

Viranna Isle is a beautiful land. A history of divine warfare has scarred the land in various ways that create stunning landforms such as vast canyons, colossal mountain peaks, and imposing cave formations. Much of it is lush with green, temperate forests and grasslands, though the northern and southern areas are less comfortable. It has an array of biomes along its latitudinal spread. At the very top, closest to the continent of Vonarûn, the temperature drops, giving way to the Icebound Belt and some glacier formation past that, on the northern edge. An abundance of rivers leak down the mountain ranges, collecting into a plethora of lakes, providing water for nearby settlements. Further down, the forests give way to grasslands and feature large, expansive plains known as the Verdant Midlands, or more commonly just the Midlands. To the left of Fang Gulf, the Volida Woods dot the climbing mountainside of the Dezra Highlands, while on the opposite side, the quiet Fallow Coast lines the western edge of the isle. Below that, the hot dunes of The Ember Wastes occupy the southernmost section, separated from the gentle coastline of Eversea by the Redochre Range. Finally, closest to Aramont Archipelagos is the Eastern Peninsula of Viranna. Generally, the temperature is on the colder side, where winters will bring snow to the upper half of the isle. In the lower half, summers can get hot enough to be mildly dangerous.

Politics

Although Viranna Isle has historically been ruled by the Viranna Monarch, the balance of power has constantly shifted. Viranna Isle is now governed by The Parliament and Crown that was established in 823 PR, following The Interwar. There are three parts of government that are designed to keep each other in check: The Monarch, the Chamber of Lords, and the various ministries and public bodies responsible for carrying out government policy. The Royal Court of Viranna deals with all things nobility, grants awards, and makes decisions affecting the government body. The monarch also has final say over diplomacy and war. The Chamber of Lords deals with legislation, deciding what laws to pass and what bills to support. It is made up of 20 nobility seats—10 high and 10 low seats,—as well as the recent edition of 10 civil seats, who are elected by the populace. The ministries, managed by the Chief Minister, are in charge of enforcing and enacting the duties of government upon the land. There are various ministries for their unique purposes, such as the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Expansion. Each ministry has a respective head minister to lead its duties. At the lower level, most towns and cities have mayors, speakers, or nobility who has reign over the settlement by Virannan law. Furthermore, most of these settlements have their own local courts that decide local law, hold trials, and tax their subjects; the complexity and size vary from place to place. Ever since the mercantile business experienced a boom, there have been more and more positions of power taken by rich citizens who ascend to office through various means.

Culture

Much of Virannan culture is subjective. Many different races cohabitate Viranna Isle, each bringing in their own racial cultures. In addition, many different religions have different standards for how and when celebrating is appropriate from a day-to-day standpoint. However, there are still some common aspects of Virannan culture that may be useful to know. For starters, festivals are widely popular during certain days of the year. The New Year is an important day to be celebrated; whether poor or wealthy, people commonly gather in festivals and outings to celebrate the 1st of Rylah (1/1). Another important day is the 10th of Dalna (10/7), or the Day of Restoration, revered as the day Source War came to an end. Virannan culture specially has something called King Day on the 23rd of Estoth (23/6), where people celebrate the monarchy.

The wealth distribution has dramatically changed within the last century, where many foreign entities and families have come to the isle to take advantage of the new age. Many families native to Viranna Isle feel as though they've been undermined and left behind in the economic boom as they watched outsiders profit off their land. In a short time, living standards in the cities skyrocketed for the power-hungry elite, leaving the poor even poorer than before. Most of the new age technology are reserved for those with money, while those without are kicked aside: transportation options now drastically change depending on one's budget, electricity may be wired into a residence while routing dangerous, unstable wires through a homeless shelter, and previous structures built to house the less-fortunate are being bought and replaced with factories. Urban living has become hell for the lower-class, while the upper-class do nothing but their best to ignore the stinking slums of the city. Beggars are kicked off the main roads, entrance into the rich wards are regulated—any dirty or unpresentable commoner will be denied entry, and air fresheners line the streets where rich folk walk. Additionally, racism against less-accepted species grows further rampant, due to the apathetic attitude of the moneyed; they will actively hire mercenaries to use fear and punish any city-dwelling goblins, kobolds, and other semi-civilized creatures that take up residence in the cities. As a result, the oppressed find secluded hovels and sties to hide away, picking at scraps to get by. To make things worse, the toll to taking up residence in a city is a heavy tax due to heavy expenditures from the city and the parliament combined—the officials need their funds to keep up the standard of living.

Magic & Technology

Magic has long been part of Virannan culture, along with the rest of the world. Ever since the Age of Arcanum and the pioneer inventions of Archmage Garuum, magic has been taught to those with the capability and resources to learn it. While most commoners are magically inept, magic is sought after as one of the most important skills for an individual to have. Unfortunately, cognizing magical input is a rather rare and difficult skill for one to have, leading to most people only retaining the basics of magic or even none at all. Even nobles have a hard time teaching it to their heirs. This results in a history of prioritizing those with magical capabilities. In recent times, the advancement of technology and the resulting Magitech have begun to level the playing field, allowing non-wizards to gain the benefits of magic, as long as they have money. This has begun to provide a new avenue for people to rise in power—a method rooted less so in knowledge and more in pure capital. Additionally, a new, fundamental theory has begun to snake its way into the populace that magic is simply defined as the "unnatural movement of energy," giving light to theories that question what magic even is. Does lighting a fire with a tinderbox count as the unnatural movement of energy? Does flipping an electric switch to turn on a lamp count as magic? Does simply pushing a ball around count as an unnatural force? What counts as simply technology, and what counts as magical technology? These worries have begun to manifest themselves into daily life, with manufactured products beginning to come with labels such as "100% magically produced" and "magically organic".

Importantly, some magical equipment is deemed too dangerous for commoner use and requires an Arcane Carrier license to legally own. There are various ways to obtain this license such as being in a guild, belonging to a noble family with clearance, being a certain rank of soldier, or even just straight up buying a license.

"Weave Theory" is the theory that all energy is connected by a system-wide understanding of energies called The Weave. Magic is defined as the unnatural manipulation of The Weave. Modern scientific studies say that all energy comes from the sun, and it travels in snake-like waves called Aons. Aons can have different wavelengths of energy that give it special characteristics. For example, divine energy has different wavelengths than heat energy, which is also different from necrotic energy. Weave Theory forms the basis to Magitech and the new reliance on Residuum in modern technology.

Residuum is essentially a magic amplifier. Feed a magical source through residuum, and it will become stronger and can sometimes even evolve into different forms of magic. Divine Residuum has been present in magic items far before history books date back to. It is assumed that all magic items before the discovery of Refined Residuum were created by the gods or other godly entities. The most powerful magical items are called Source Relics, and it is said that most of them were created during the Prime Epoch—the era of Source War. Refined Residuum was discovered when Archmage Garuum successfully disenchanted a Source Relic called the Solar Cronix, separating an extremely highly-concentrated deposit of Refined Residuum from the amulet. Archmage Garuum discovered the power behind Residuum and helped invent the method of deconcentrating/concentrating and repurposing Residuum. Presently, Residuum concentration is measured in grades from S, A, B, C, and D (S equates to Legendary power level, D to Common). Most Source Relics are grade S.