Ieanegatniv 101

Words!!1! (twenty-two hundred or so)

Halfway around the world from The Known World is a place called Ieanegatniv. It is primarily jungle terrain, ringed by mountains. Mountains ring the continent in sort of a horseshoe shape. The western beach is nice, but the mountains and the jungles lock in the sticky, stifling, heat of the jungle. The mountains are tall and mountainy, the jungles are hot and sweaty and full of big bugs, and warring countries and whatnot.

In the upper reaches of the mountains are this race of purple skinned humanoids called The Night Clans. They're big brutish creatures, not stupid, just very fragmented and warlike, even among their own people. They typically dwell in large stone domed shelters on the mountainsides, or in the upper interiors of the mountains. They tend to stay up higher on the mountains, but we'll get to the why of that later. The Night Clans are a warlike nation, very similar to Volungshmele. They call themselves The Night Clans because they believe themselves to be lunar creatures, so much so that they ritually scar their brows with a phase of the moon. Their legends say that they descended from Hekinoe's moon after a great catastrophe befell their empire and cast them down to the peaks of Ieanegatniv. As a race, they feel their fortunes are tied to the moon. When they wage war, they do so under the moon, and beneath its pale gaze their vitality and strength are limitless. They are not a race that fears the daylight, but they do take much comfort and strength from the twilight hours when the moon rides high in the sky. Despite their fragmented nature, one creature stands out among the herds of warriors and berserkers of this race, Pometkin, a warlord that seeks to conquer The Night Clans and unify them into a power to be feared and respected on Ieangatniv. This warlord dwells in the lowest regions of the mountains, daring the People of Darkwood to attack him and his holdings. He, more than any other chieftain of The Night Clans, ventures out into the thick jungles to raid against the other races of the area. He is widely feared and respected among his people, but his power has turned much of his race against him, filling their eyes with green envy so that he is perpetually beset by petty enemies that drain resources that could be better spent on making war against other races and bringing other chieftains to his banners.

At the foot of the mountains is a cooler stretch of the jungles, not cold or anything like that, but cooler due to the proximity of the cold mountains and the underground lakes and rivers that cut through the rock. This ring of cooler jungle backed up against the mountains is called Darkwood. The creatures living in Darkwood are these pale blond and albino humanoids that are broken up into three main factions, perhaps more. The first faction is led by a creature called Shade of Darkwood and he is something known as a wood witch. He believes that his people should take refuge at the foot of the mountains and protect themselves there, essentially walling themselves off from the rest of Ieanegtatniv and taking no part in the constant infighting of the land. He thinks of himself as a protector and defender of his people, not as a tyrant. His brother, Solo of Darkwood operates under an opposing view. Solo believes that the People should roam through all the jungles of Ieanegatiniv waging a battle of constant guerrilla war against the other races, bleeding them even as they wear themselves down against one another so that one day the People can rule all of Ieangatniv alone and in peace. Many of his warriors are outcasts from Shade's fortress-like cities that expressed views at odds with those of Shade and his supporters. The third faction is a collection of warriors led by Gherret, called the Hawkeye, and he and his warriors act as mercenaries throughout Ieangatniv. The Hawkeye feels that the People are beset on all sides by bloodthirsty foes, and the only way they can truly guarantee their survival is by becoming far too useful for the other races to even think of destroying them. The Hawkeye takes the long view of things, believing that being employed by other races to wage war against other races that dwell outside of Darkwood, he creates fewer and fewer enemies for his people in the future. The Hawkeye considers the factions ruled by Solo and Shade to be his allies, recognizing that each view of their race's future has it's own merits and he supports them when he and his warriors can. In return, Shade and his people offer safe havens to the Hawkeye and Solo sends information on local conflicts and troop placements across Ieanegatniv so the Hawkeye knows where he can find employment and weakened forces to kill and loot.

The hot, humid, dim, suffocatingly thick core of the jungle that is Ieanegatniv is populated by three main races. They are the Cinder Ghosts, Panthermen, and the Trolls. These three races are the most fragmented and warlike of the races/nations of Ieanegatniv. The Night Clans are similar, and Pometkin comes under frequent attack because of his attempts to unify the race under his iron fist. However, no tribe or city of the Night Clans commits genocide upon another. The Cinder Ghosts, Trolls, and Panthermen are savage and brutal races that will wage war against their own people for no better reason than they are there to be fought. That said, each race has a warrior king attempting to change that, much like The Night Clans.

The Cinder Ghosts are a race of pygmies that dwell in the trees of Ieanegatniv harvesting plants and mosses from the bark. They call themselves the Cinder Ghosts because of their knack for stealth and their common use of sorcerers (the kind that like to burn things) in engagements. Their greatest threat (aside from their own kind) is the giant insects that dwell in the trees with them. Creatures we would know as mosquitoes, scorpions, centipedes, earwigs, and spiders, all of them the size of small horses. These creatures dwell in the earth or the trees waiting for the Cinder Ghosts to show weakness. There is such enmity between the Cinder Ghosts and the crawling skittering creatures of Ieangatniv that the Cinder Ghosts armor themselves in plates of insect chitin and adorn themselves with antennae and wings and stingers as trophies and weapons taken from their fallen foes. The man of the Cinder Ghosts that seeks unity is one Day'Meun of the Cinder Ghosts. Day'Meun came from a small, ineffective tribe that was on the verge of dying out, they were beset on all sides by Trolls, Underlox, and their insect/arachnid enemies. Day'Meun killed the tribal chieftain and assumed his role and his first step was to make pacts of non-aggression with other Cinder Ghost tribes in the area, following that he engaged in trade with Panthermen tribes distant enough that resource sharing was not an issue, but close enough that pacts of mutual defense would be beneficial to both parties. With the strength and numbers added to his force by the Panthermen, he was able to clear out the caves near his tribe's trees and block off the passages the Underlox used to gain access to the surface world. When other Cinder Ghost tribes eventually reneged on their non-aggression pacts and attacked his tribe, they found healthy and rested warriors ready for them and backed by Panthermen soldiers. Day'Meun was able to then absorb the tribes that attacked him and add to his own power. Day'Meun is a planner, and usually his goals center on allying himself with others or hiring mercenaries so his forces are not depleted every time he finds it necessary to destroy an enemy tribe or fight off insects or Trolls.

The Pathermen are a race of bipedal panther creatures. Of the races of Ieanegatniv, they are the most well known as warriors. Their society is completely martial in nature and one where might truly does make right. They build fortresses of clay and stone in between the mighty trees of Ieanegatniv and are second only to The Night Clans in their weapon and armorsmithing skill. Exactly like the Cinder Ghosts, the Panthermen are a fragmented race prone to conflict with one another, and just like the Cinder Ghosts, they have their own warrior that looks to the future. His name is Kain. In his early years he fought as a gladiator in the Runegate arena, eventually coming to some degree of fame and being noticed by Kelik and Krin, the rulers of that city of neutrality and mercenaries. Kane fought in the arena for almost two decades, forming bonds of friendship and respect with a Troll named Algar and an Underlox named Bic Thered. It was in the arena that Kain decided it was his destiny to have as much power as he could sink his claws into, and with that in mind he retired from the arena and dragged Algar and Bic with him. The three of them hired mercenaries with their winnings and carved a swath of death through the jungles, drawing other warriors to their banner and growing in fame. It was with Kain that Day'Meun of the Cinder Ghosts made his pacts of mutual defense with. It was Kain that ordered Algar back to his people to conquer a tribe of his own so that it could be added to the growing list of Kain's warriors. Kain and his warriors live as mercenaries, much like Gherret the Hawkeye, but their goal is less noble. Kain wants nothing more than complete and utter control of Ieanegatniv, this includes Runegate and the deep caverns of the Underlox. Kain's banner, four black talons tearing across a field of red, is sometimes enough to cause defenders to drop their weapons and flee their posts.

The jungles are, as I said, also home to the Trolls. Algar, Kain's ally, was once a respected well-known warrior among his kind before his time in the arena. He still is to a certain extent. The Trolls are thin looking giant things with thick green hide the color of the jungle. The Trolls have an innate affinity for the jungles, some even believe the that Trolls are somehow the descendants of the most ancient trees of Ieanegatniv. Perhaps there is some truth to this, for the green flesh of the Trolls is as thick and unfeeling to injury as thick tree bark and when cut apart, the creatures regrow their thick hide. If a limb is cut apart, it returns, if the Troll is particularly old or strong, they can sometimes split the wounded limb and cause it to regrow into two new limbs. Some beasts even grow additional heads. The Trolls are broken into many tribes ruled by many different chieftains and wage constant battles against one another, believing that every battle makes them stronger and worthier in the eyes of their ancestors. The largest tribe of Trolls is led by a Troll named Aldox Tektroenik and he has a special enmity for Algar of Kain's alliance and he has led many assaults (of varying degrees of success) against Kain, Algar, and their allies.

Beneath the jungles of Ieanegatniv are a series of interconnected caverns and tunnels that riddle the earth. In these caverns dwell the Underlox. The Underlox are barely a race, they have no society or rulers, nothing they create or export to trade with other races and they do nothing but raid the surface for food and tools. The few of them that do decide to leave the caves for more than raiding often find work, or slavery, in the arenas of Runegate. The Underlox are a horrific fusion of flesh and chitin that should not exist. As a race they have no uniform appearance, some of them are bipedal, others skitter around on a half dozen or more insect legs. Some sting or bite or claw, while others rage like men.

At the edge of the beach of Ieanegatniv, where sand meets jungle, sits a walled city. The city has one gate and it faces the jungle. The gate is forged of heavy black metal and etched with runes of silver and red. The air hums violently around the massive gate because the huge opening in the wall is not sealed by wood or steel, but by sorcery. The walls are tall and thick, more so than any other fortress or city found on Ieanegatniv, and they have been impervious to all attempts to bring them down. Within the walls of the city is a neutral city where all may go to meet and trade in relative safety. Mercenaries may be hired, goods and services procured, and so on. All under the watchful eye of two brothers dwelling in a tower that rises from the center of Runegate like a pike aimed upwards to impale an invisible titan of the sky. At the base of the tower is a huge amphitheater where the arenas of Runegate can be found. Gladiators, willing and otherwise, engage in bloody combat with one another and whatever beasts can be dragged up out of the caverns below Ieanegatniv to the entertainment of the crowds. The willing fight for honor, glory, ensorcelled weaponry, or even just base coinage. The unwilling fight so that they may see the next dawn.

The two brothers that dwell in the tall tower are Kelik and Krin. One is a wizard of such power that he would shame the Fallen of The Known World and the other is a psychic savant of such power that he could level a city with his gaze. Because of these two Eldumans, Runegate remains a neutral city that no armed force can wage war upon and survive. How long the brothers have been on Ieanegatniv is unknown, but Runegate's age borders on ancient.

Also, sorcery is bound and controlled in most areas of Ieanegatniv. It still warps the flesh of man and beast (I cite the Underlox as an example), but the sorcerous explosions that are a common sight in some areas of The Known World are almost unheard of on Ieanegatniv.

At the time of writing this, this continent/idea is three days old, not that that is really relevant to anything. If you've gamed with me for a while, or you are Jeremy, you know what is going on here in Ieangatniv. Some of the names are altered and some characters have been compiled together into one, but this place is exactly what you think it is and I'm glad I got the idea to do it.