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Caligo Torodoth is a toroidal inhabitable region, surounded by the Mists but also having a central region of Mists. The myst-demons of the central Mists are attenuated creatures less dangerous than those of the outer Mists. The rough circle circumscribed by the outer Mists is about 1800 km in diameter, and the central Mists, also roughly circular, cover a circle of 500 km diameter. There are two land regions, east and west, and two seas, north and south of the central Mist. It's impossible to swim or sail from one sea to the other without passing the Mists (and of course passing the Mists is not easy and usually fatal).
Torodoth is inhabited by Blirthibo, Briacite, Wexivanov, Slithu, Guerrothon, Jhray, Jhotha, Pliv, Krinth and Quethna. The Jhotha live almost exclusively in the Cotalis mountains in the southwest, and the Blirthibo only in the northern sea, but the other races live commingled in most regions.
~ -1500 The Sundering
-1000s Stable city-states form in various regions.
-805 First ruler of Novalia conquers several city-states and
unites them under his rule.
-402 Rolafenamacuki discovers a hidden valley, which he names
after himself.
~ -300s Rolafenamacuki settled by folks from Novalia.
-48 Birth of Tlastragoz
-20 Birth of Srang
0 First revelation of Tlastragoz
8 Tlastragoz' mission to the Jhotha
11 He arrives in Smillarund.
13 He is assassinated in Ledreg.
40 A council is held to decide upon the definitive form of
the Nine Final Laws. Most of the Temporal Rules are
formalized here.
512 A millenialist sect of Vistrala go en masse to the
Cotalis mountains, where two Jhotha pairfolk do something
to them; they're never seen again.
513-17 Perhaps provoked by the missionary expedition, one of the
pairfolk crosses the sea and takes control of the entire
eastern continent.
517 Everyone on the eastern continent wakes up one morning
with a major discontinuity in their memory.
~500s Wars of identity in the east. Most of modern nations
came by their present boundaries during these wars.
Vistralism makes great progress, and dozens of
short-lived sects spring up. The cult of the Pairfolk is
permanently stronger than before.
522 A new sort of clock is invented by the Pliv engineer
Dlaglashtar; it is accurate to 1/50 of a day in a year.
As these clocks are produced in larger numbers, the cult
of Time, which made its appearance after the Takeover,
incorporates them into its theology and decrees that all
clock faces are to be covered every sixth day.
640 Printing press invented by Taralimn Tinker
792 Birth of Sevlik Tcilft, the Slithu city planner
800s Industrial revolution in Vislond.
~800 Assembly line developed.
1142 First satellite put in orbit
1144 Camera-satellites return images of other Caligoi.
1150 A rocket-plane lands in Triyk. Later, expeditions to all
of the other Caligoi.
1200s Regular commerce between Caligoi established; a small
base on the bright moon, missions to the dark moon and
other planets in the starsystem.
Tragically, the people of the lunar base go mad and kill
one another; many astronauts returning from missions in
high orbit, or to other planets, live apparently normal
lives for months or years, then end in short murderous
rampages. This puts and end to manned space travel, but
crew and passengers of the low-orbit spaceplanes seem
unaffected.
1240 A migration of the Jhotha Pairfolk from other Caligoi to
Torodoth, by way of the new spaceplanes, strikes fear
into the hearts of all who hear of it; there is
speculation that another, worldwide Takeover is planned.
Meanwhile, Vistralite missionaries to other Caligoi
find unexpected receptiveness in the native Jhotha.
Late in the year, there is a mini-Takeover of the major
space launch facility in Vislond and the nearby city,
lasting about two months; people's memories are not
as disrupted as in the old Takeover, and they
remember building components of a space station, pressure
suits and specialized life support for Jhotha, and
launching the Pairfolk into orbit with the prefabricated
parts they had ordered.
1242 Two individual Jhotha, no longer a Pair, return from
the space station. They tell people that deep space is
now safe for manned travel, and after a couple of years,
new missions are sent into high orbit and to the moons,
without incident. The Jhotha space station is empty and
cold, the former Pairfolk who returned to Torodoth having
left the airlocks open; of the other Pairfolk there is no
sign.
1245 The first new Pairfolk formed after the departure of the
old Pairfolk travels to all the Caligoi where Jhotha
live, then goes to repair and man the abandoned space
station. The Jhotha and Jhray of all Caligoi are now a
single continuous telepathic community, the Pairfolk
forming a sort of communications sattelite -- as the
sixteen Pairfolk who left in 1240 did not, for some
reason.
Rolafenomacuki (Roll-ah-fin-oh-ma-koo-key) Uachli (Wack-ly) - (430-350 b.T.) A Slithu explorer from Novalia, founder of the country and discoverer of the valley of the same name. The only thing he didn't name after himself there was the Typobo, the rare and exotic fish found there which he named after his kalok.
Tlastragoz - The Pliv founder of Vistralism
Srang - A Slithu, one of Tlastragoz' first disciples, later a prophet
Ulorimn Ruler - Wexivinov monarch of Ty Ledreg in the last nineteen years before the Takeover.
Tedzoban - Slithu king of Liespar in the years before the Takeover.
Lelyamenma - Guerrothon chief who led his own and other tribes in a war to defend their traditional pasturelands from Slithu and Wexivinov farmers in the years before the Takeover
Mwasihak Prophet - Wexivinov prophet of Pairfolk-worship and founder of Engtro.
Tawisomh Clocksmith - Wexivinov founder of the Cult of Time
{Listens to the East Wind} - Jhray of south Yescates who negotiated the peace treaty between the generals of Vislond and those of Engtro sixty-nine years after the Takeover
Taralimn Tinker - Wexivinov of Ledreg, Vistralite inventor of the printing press
Sevlik Tcilft (792-850 a.T.) - The Slithu city planner who revolutionized the way cities in Vislond were built.
Vranashra - Briacite who led a rebellion against the Pliv factories' pollution of streams
Before the Pairfolk Takeover in the sixth century after Tlastragoz, the eastern continent was home to seven city-states, besides the loose associations of the Pliv clans. Only one, Kaquist, home of the mountain Krinth, has any continuity through the Takeover to the nations of today. In the last several decades before the Takeover, the progressive Wexivinov monarch of Ty Ledreg, a nation on the coast in what is now Vislond, had begun plans to unite the seven nations by opening borders to free passage of all people, and gradually making the laws more consistent. Several of his neighboring states in the north had gone so far as to lower all but a few of their trade barriers, and the ideas of the philosophers who had inspired Ulorimn Ruler were making slow but steady progress throughout that part of the world. All this came to an end with the Takeover.
In the central Cwift river valley, the Slithu kings of Liespar had brought the smaller cities along the river under their rule. The last king of Liespar, Tedzoban [Tooth-sight], became involved in a war with the Guerrothon tribes of the south. Wexivinov and Briacite farmers nominally under Liespar's dominion expanded their farms into Guerrothon pasturelands, and the Guerrothon remonstrated, then began raiding. The farmers appealed to King Tedzoban, and he raised first volunteer troops, then conscripts from throughout the cities on the Cwift. The war was getting very bloody when it was interrupted by the Takeover.
Vistralism had become the religion of a sizable minority among the Guerrothon (several whole tribes, about 20% of the population, had converted when Tlastragoz travelled through the southeastern mountains in his last voyage), but among Wexivinov, Briacite and Slithu Vistrala were fewer than 5% by the time of the Takeover (down from a peak of 15% fifty years after Tlastragoz). Fewer than 2% of Pliv were Vistrala.
Several religions in Torodoth worship the Jhotha pairfolk. In Novalia, these have generally been proscribed, but they persist in secret. In Engtro, Pairfolk worship is institutionalized, and relics of the Takeover of the sixth century are carefully preserved in temples. Pairfolk worship is frowned on, but not actually persecuted, in Vislond and Felind.
Shortly after the Takeover in the east, a new movement arose around the water-clocks in the public areas of cities in what is now Vislond, Engtro and Felind. These had been allowed to fall into disrepair during the reign of the Pairfolk. A certain Wexivanov, Tawisomh Clocksmith, began wandering from city to city, enlisting local people to help repair the clocks, and infusing people with a desire to know the time of day accurately. There were remarkable effects in the long run, in the development of spring- and pendulum-driven clocks by the Pliv of Vislond, and ultimately in the industrial revolution; but in the short run, a Cult of Time appeared. Time-worshippers venerated all sorts of periodic processes, built new clocks everywhere, studied calendars, and burnt incense before little hourglass-shrines in their homes. They gathered at dawn at the local water-clock, to refill it for the day's timekeeping, and, at the gonging of each quarter-day, would halt in their activities and make obeisance to Time. However, on every sixth day, they would neglect to fill the water-clocks, throw sheets over sundials, and studiously refuse to note the sun's position in the sky. The cult died out after about fifty years, but the sixth-day custom still lingers in Vislond and parts of Engtro.
The remarkable prosperity of Vislond in recent times results from the beginnings of an industrial revolution which is in progress there. A remarkable invention, the assembly line technique, has enabled Pliv engineer-enchanters to create wonderful machines which produce all sorts of things more abundantly and cheaply than they could formerly be made. At first, all of the factories were underground, since that was where the Pliv who invented the techniques and were the first factory workers were most comfortable. When many Slithu and Briacite found that they could earn more by working in Pliv factories than they could as farmers, however, the composition of the work force changed, and soon factories with many windows were built above the entrances to many Pliv caverns; Slithu and Briacite worked many positions during the day, Pliv worked the same positions at night. Wexivanov enchanters were hired to do such enchantments as were needed at various stages of the manufacturing process during the day shift, while the Pliv enchanters who had started the factories continued working these positions during the night shifts. At many factories, it is the custom to work one shift after another without pause for twenty or thirty days, and then give most of the workers eight or ten days off.
Most of the major cities of Vislond have underground connections to Pliv caverns. Ledreg, the capital, is situated upon the river Nwift sixty miles from the delta. It and most of the older cities (such as Tebvu, Nalma, and Yerimn) still retain their archaic infrastructure; narrow streets, rudimentary sewage, and so forth. Several of the newer cities, however, which have grown up around Pliv above-ground factory extensions, have a more deliberate plan to them, thanks to a Slithu housebuilder, Sevlik Tcilft. When the Pliv enchanter-engineers Mlivdoz and Tlokdoz started building their Dezlakish factory above the caverns north of Ledreg, they hired Sevlik and several other Slithu and Briacite to build a number of houses around the factory for their workers to live in. Sevlik organized the other housebuilders that had been hired for this job to build the houses in a regular geometrical plan, with spaces between rows broad enough for four carts or carriages to travel abreast: the foundations of Dezlakish City's modern streets. He also persuaded them to pool part of the money they were being paid by the Pliv to build public buildings around the factory on all sides: three temples and a town hall. At first the workers were not pleased at having to walk farther to get to the factory than those at, say, Mlizragog or Reskanig, where the houses were built closer together as in the older cities; but it was not long before the benefits of Sevlik's plan were seen. Within ten years all new cities and most expansion of young cities were built along similar plans.
After a fire destroyed much of Ledreg in 950 a.T., most branches of government relocated to the new cities Dezlakish and Tuzedlra, but the courts, whose seat was not much damaged by the fire, remained in Ledreg.
The Blirthibo live only in the Kalethik sea (north of the central Mists).
Briacite live in rural regions everywhere; few of them live in the cities.
Wexivinov are most numerous in Vislond and Engtro in the east, but they live in other regions as well.
Slithu live everywhere but in the Cotalis mountains; they're most numerous in the northern regions of both landmasses.
Jhray live in the lower elevations of all the mountain ranges (the Cotalis and Dranglar in the west, Yescates and Tiespa in the east).
Jhotha live primarily in the Cotalis mountains. Some Jhotha travel outside the Cotalis, but few move elsewhere permanently, and these have never had children to found another community.
Pliv live in caverns under the Dranglar mountains in the west, and under the Yescates and its foothills in the east.
Krinth and Quethna live everywhere but Cotalis, but they are most dominant in the higher Yescates in the far northeast.
Some Guerrothon live in Dranglar mountains, but most of them live in the Tiespa range and the plains south of those mountains in the southeast. Guerrothon from this region may have the disadvantage Primitive (-5 to -20 points, depending on the period; the southern tribes remain at tech level 0-1 while their neighbors to the north advance from tech level 2-5.
The Nwift river is about half a mile wide when it flows out of the mists in the north. It wends and winds its way toward the sea, and is more than a mile and a half wide when it reaches its delta upon the Northern Sea. Several major cities are situated upon it, including Ledreg, the capital of Vislond.
The Cwift river is about a mile wide for most of its length. It flows from the outer Mist in the east and disappears into the central Mist in the west, on a fairly straight course. It forms the border between Vislond (on the north) and Engtro (on the south).
This east-west mountain range divides the Nwift river valley from the Cwift river valley. The highest peaks border the outer mists to the east, with foothills bordering the central mists on the west.
The eastern Yescates are home chiefly to Krinth, Quethna and small tribes of Guerrothon. Many Wexivinov, Slithu and Briacite live among the lesser mountains further west. Jhray grow throughout at the lower elevations. Pliv live in the caverns under the mountains.
The Tiespa range is south of the Cwift river valley, chiefly home to Guerrothon but also to small communities of Briacite and Wexivinov. The cavern systems are shallow; no Pliv lived in them in old times, but some Vistrala migrated there after suffering persecution in the caverns under the Yescates.
Vislond is a prosperous nation bordering the northern sea on the northwest and the Cwift River on the south. Its citizens are Pliv, Wexivanov, Slithu, and Briacite. Others also live there in smaller numbers; a few Krinth live in the south, a fair number of Guerrothon in the mountains bordering the Mist on the northeast, and of course many Jhray throughout the extensive forests. Jhotha are rare as visitors, and none live there permanently.
A quadrumvirate of rulers governs the nation, delegating much of the everyday work of governing to civil servants who are mainly of the citizen races. Each of the four rulers is chosen by a different method by one of the four citizen races. The Pliv member of the ruling council is elected by clan chiefs (who are in turn elected by heads of families) for a term of ten years; he is usually reelected unless he is thought to have done a quite bad job. The Slithu member is elected by all adult Slithu citizens for a term of three years. The Briacite member is a hereditary monarch (or quarter-monarch). He or she serves for life or during good health; many Briacite rulers have abdicated in favor of their chosen heir (whichever of the ruler's sons, daughters, nieces or nephews seems best suited as successor) so as to spend their declining years relieved of cares of state. The Wexivanov member is selected by a complex process of casting lots, and serves for a term randomly set by the lottery in which he was chosen.
The Krinth and Guerrothon have no voice in selecting the rulers. They are theoretically eligible for civil service positions, but few apply and fewer still are hired. The Jhray are considered a separate nation, with a permanent treaty respecting their right to be unmolested within the ancient boundaries of their forests. Vislond takes the responsibility of capturing and punishing anyone who molests a Jhray and manages to escape the immediate vengeance of his neighbors, and in turn the Jhray pay a small quantity of twigs and branches to the government of Vislond for use (mainly by Wexivanov state-employed mages) in forensic magic.
The treaty with the Blirthibo of the northern sea, among other provisions, specifies that the Blirthibo undertake to protect both fishing boats and merchant and passenger ships as long as no more than a certain number are at sea at once and as long as plenty of warning is given before their launch so that Tharoal escorts can be where they are needed. In return, Vislond supplies metal tools and magical items to the Blirthibo. (The exact number of ships allowed at sea and the exact quantity of payment varies according to the number of Tharoala employed as ship-escorts at a given time.) An unusual feature of the Vislond treaty is that in the warm months a few Tharoal are assigned to beaches for the protection of swimmers. This is rare and unusual; the city-states to the west have no such arrangement, their citizens being for the most part too poor to take time for beach vacations.
Kaquist is a small nation bordering the eastern mists, Vislond, and Engtro. Its citizens and rulers are Krinth.
Engtro borders Vislond on the north, Kaquist on the northeast, the Mists on east and west, and Felind on the south. It emerged as a distinct nation after the Takeover of the sixth century. Mwasihak Grendeg-herder, a Wexivanov, declared himself a prophet of the Pairfolk, and told people that the Pairfolk had abandoned them because they were disobedient. He converted many people to his variety of Pairfolk worship, and organized an army. In a series of protracted wars with the four generals who had organized the region which was to become Vislond, the Cwift river was eventually settled on as the border. Mwasihak Prophet ruled for forty years, and his successors as prophet followed him. After about two hundred years, Pairfolk-worship, at least among the rulers, became merely formal. It is still the most widely held creed aside from the old orthodoxies throughout most of Engtro.
Felind borders Engtro to the north and the Iaralik sea to the west. A few small rivers flow from its central hilly country to the Iaralik sea, but most of them flow north into the Cwift.
Guerrothon are the most numerous race of Felind, but there are many Wexivinov, Briacite and Slithu here as well. There are no major Pliv caverns under Felind, but a few Vistralite exiles live in the hill caves. Few Krinth live here permanently. There are Jhray forests throughout the country, except in the salt flats by the coast and near the Mists.
Felind is governed by a dynasty of Guerrothon chiefs, with advisors of the other sentient races.
Most of the Jhotha in Torodoth live in the Cotalis Mountains. In a few parts of the mountain forests, Jhray live. Except in the valley of Rolafenamacuki, the Cotalis have no permanent residents other than the Jhray and Jhotha, though traders from Novalia visit them at agreed-upon times and places.
This chain of mountains extends from the western Mists to the coast of the Kalethik Sea and the central Mists. All the country north of the mountains as far as the Mists is very hilly as well. Some think that the Dranglar and Yescates mountain ranges were once a continuous chain, as perhaps also were the Cotalis and Tiespa ranges, before some major 'downheaval' created the sea that divides the two landmasses.
Novalia is the largest nation on the western landmass. It is bordered by the Waelin River to the north, the Cotalis Mts. to the south, the mists to the west and the Iaralik Sea to the east. It is mostly made up of farmland and savannah, with a large forest bordering the mists and the Waelin River.
It is a constitutional monarchy. There have been several dynasties in the history of Novalia, beginning with ten generations of Wexivanov rulers, followed by six generations of Slithu kings, and finally by nine Krinth queens. Since the last Krinth queen, each monarch has appointed a successor of a different race from him or herself. The privy council is made up of advisors of each of the different races which inhabit Novalia, though the number and proportions of representation are changed very infrequently in spite of fluctuations of the relative population sizes. Each town and surrounding territory is governed by a sheriff-magistrate, who is both the chief law enforcement official and the chief judge. This person delegates all but the most important cases to deputies and lesser judges.
The laws of Novalia have changed much over the course of its history. The general pattern has been a gradual increase in the number, complexity and intrusiveness of the laws, followed by a sudden simplification with a new, reform-minded monarch, although at times the pattern has reversed itself. For about three hundred years, under five Slithu monarchs, Vistralism was the official religion, but for most of Novalia's history it has been tolerant of at least the several old orthodox religions. Pairfolk worship, however, has usually been severely proscribed, though it is practiced secretly by many.
Its population is roughly 40% Slithu, 25% Guerrothon, 25% Wexivinov, 10% Briacite, 8% Krinth and Quethna, and 2% Pliv. Most of Novalia's economy is based on agriculture, but the capital city of Xodar is famous for the clocks, watches and other fine machines made there. Most of it is rural; Xodar is the only large city.
There are no Jhray in the forests; the Jhray of Cotalis tell that they once sent a colony there, but that after a single generation they decided that they did not like the soil and planted no seeds.
North of Novalia, the western continent is broken into many small nation-states. At any given time, at least two of of them are at war with one another. The exception is the Pliv caverns; these are almost a northward extension of Novalia. When many of the surface states are at war, it is safer and cheaper to transport goods underground than via the surface, even though the route is usually more roundabout.
Two to five nations (at one time or another) border the Kalethik sea. Each has a separate treaty with the Blirthibo.
The Choi are a metafamily that live in a forested valley of the mountains about 100 km from the northwestern Mists. Though of different races, the Choi consider themselves a single family. Their members include Wexivinov, Slithu, Briacite, Guerrothon, Pliv, Quethna, and Jhray; once in several generations a Krinth or Jhotha is adopted.
Typically a child will have a mother, usually his biological mother, and a 'father', who is a close friend of his mother of her own generation, of either sex or any race, who agrees to be a primary help in raising the child. All others of the elder generation are called 'uncle' or 'aunt', all others of one's own generation are called 'brother' or 'sister'.
The Choi have a family religion, focused on an apersonal 'rightness' (similar to the Tao or Logos) prior to the gods the various races worship, and a family language, constructed by their ancestors to be easily pronouncable by any race, beautiful to every race's sensibilities, and shape the speakers' thoughts for harmony with 'rightness'.
Many of the animal Choi (except the Quethna, and an occasional Krinth who asks to be adopted) are vegetarians.
The Choi cultivate acrobatic dancing and wordless song.
The Waelin River flows out of the western mists, by a very winding path, to the central mists. It forms the northern border of Novalia, and the southern border of various small city-states. It has many small tributaries flowing into it from the Dranglar mountains on the north and from the Cotalis on the south.
Rolafenomacuki is a small nation, located in the Rolafenomacuki valley, in the Cotalis Mts, about 80 miles from the western mists. It is named after its founder, the explorer who discovered the valley, a Slithu named Rolafenomacuki Uachli.
Fen, as it is usually referred to by non-natives, is about 18 miles long, and 12 miles wide at its widest point. It is a very rich nation, partly from the sale of the Typobo, a kind of exotic fish only found in Lake Rolafenomacuki, but mostly from tourism.
Hurricanes and sea storms usually come out of the northern mists into the Kalethik Sea. Sometimes they crash against the eastern or western coast and exaust themselves; other times they enter the central mists and emerge into the Iaralik Sea, often to crash upon one of the southern coasts.
The Kalethik Sea is inhabited by Blirthibo, who make the waters safe for navigation at a price. They set a limit to the number of ships they will allow at sea at once, however, so as not to promise protection that they cannot provide.
The Iaralik Sea is not inhabited by Blirthibo. It is more dangerous to travel upon than the northern sea, because of the danger of ships being attacked by jekmaz and other powerful beasts. Virtually no passenger traffic crosses the southern sea; however, some merchants risk it in small, fast ships carrying cargo precious for its weight, deeming the profit of avoiding the overland journey and the Blirthibo tolls to be worth the risk. About four out of five ships survive the journey. Occasionally, a small group of Jhotha set out to cross the sea, riding host animals suitable for handling sails and rigging. They nearly always survive. The Jhotha claim that the few losses they suffer are entirely due to weather, saying that they do not cross the southern sea unless they are escorting one of the Pairfolk, who are plenty powerful enough to quiet jekmaz and anything else that swims in the sea.
There are several islands off the western coast, but they are all uninhabted by sentients. Smillarund, a sizable island about midway between the east and west coast and near the southern mists, is inhabited by a few thousand Slithu. Several small islands further north have at one time or another been the site of monasteries.
Smillarund is an island about midway between the east and west coast and near the southern mists. It is inhabited by several thousand Slithu, who get their nourishment primarily by agriculture. Fishing is too dangerous except in the shallowest part of the sea. The island is poor, and sea travel is dangerous, so it receives visitors rarely. The majority of the inhabitants are Vistrala, but a few hold to the old Slithu gods.
Kalok - a black and white striped simian with long arms and legs. Often domesticated by Slithu and Briacite. makes a hootin' noise.
Typobo - A rare and exotic fish found only in Lake Rolafenomacuki. It has a woderful, slightly addictive taste, and is a great delicacy to all but the Jhotha.