What follows can be added to and adjusted but please make sure we consult before changing anything already written as there are stories surrounding these places and people etc that simply will not fit if things are changed. Feel free to invent and create, add to and make new places, maybe open a thread to discuss them then make your changes etc.
Here is a map, a work in progress that can also be changed and added to. It isnt in great detail and can be improved as we go. From the map there is a gazeteer detailing each place.
Hir Adras (Hol: Karithian Mountains) (Etym: Hir(hol)
Mountain. Adras Kar: Tempest-wet storm)
The word Adras is of Karithian origin. The mountains surrounding Lake Hera, also called Hir Heres - the mountains of Hera. The Hir Adras formed a natural barrier for Illusidum, the prime city of the Holorian City States. Within their southern arm can be found the Capranecurum, the causeway of the dead where the Emperors and most powerful and honoured citizens are buried. See - Capranecurum. The mountains remain a wilderness, farmed on their fringes and home to goat and sheep flocks. Despite numerous attempts by the Holorian military to pacify the mountains that form the heart of the Holorian nation, they remain treacherous and mysterious.
The Vandur (or it's a kind of magic!)
This is where it stands in my literature at present.
Prior to the ice age the earth was populated by a race from which humans were bred to be slaves. The ice age threw their world into disarray and wiped out their numbers. A few remained, they are the Vandur. They used humans as slaves, as sacrifices to their gods and also as food. Their footsoldiers were the Skaya, humanoid and savage. The Vandur withdrew beneath the ground and to volcanic regions during the ice age, as the ice withdrew they emerged and found a world entirely changed over thousands of years. The Vandur had also changed. They were long lived, slow to reproduce and very difficult to destroy. They could endure cold and heat, they suffered not of the malady and infections that plague their lesser offspring and they had the power of simple magic, instilling fear, terror, panic, controlling simple beasts and able to see into minds as long as the victim was not too distant. They sought out the remnants of the Skaya and bred them again into armies, meanwhile humans had also learned to survive. Around the rim of the Mediterranean sea they had made kingdoms, empires, populated lands and throve in their millions, yet they had not quite forgotten the Vandur. Some men were easily turned to the cause of the Vandur with promises of power, and taught the skills of sorcery. The black arts are therefore those of the Vandur. They can ignite with a touch, they can freeze flesh, break rock and shatter wood.
Beyond this the Vandur had weapons that were simply beyond any other, several stones that focused the power of the Vandur an greatly increased it. These were the Glissidia, many were lost during the Great Ice, and some were not. The power they can add to that of the Vandur would be a significant threat to mankind.
Of the lesser magic arts my premis was that of the Vandur there were always a few who were enlightened, who saw that the future of civilisation as the Vandur once had before they became evil, was humanity and that as the Vandur must surely fail so humanity will survive, or if the Vandur triumph there can only ever be darkness. So they use their powers against the Vandur. Within humanity are groups of priests and other such shamen who use a weaker power, a faded memor of their relativity to the Vandur, whilst the run of the mill folk are always able to use potions, lotions and the sort. There are artifacts, the Glissidia which the Vandur used to focus their powers when together, these are scattered and lost but are turning up in ruined places revealed by the ice.
Magic:
The power of magic is not entirely understood. It is simply a power available to all dependant upon study with little racial bar. The Vandur however, as described above, are an entirely different matter. Magic is intrinsic to their existence and with tens of thousands of years and an origin that the Vandur maintain is not of Mesogea, no man could hope to become an acolyte of the Vanduric sorceries. Firstly a man would be considered of no value whatsoever to the Vandur and be dispensed with once his use is fulfilled. Secondly the Vandur were entirely more able to utilise sorcery and thirdly, they guarded their secrets jealously.
There we are, thats the magic in it all.
Tammaria
The Tammares were not one settled tribe but a conglomeration of vast nomadic family groups and a line of the Fyrenhoth who settled in East Farianor somewhere around the fourth century of the second era. Their origins can be traced from Rhiadros, moving gradually inland until they came upon the barrier of Larandor which they called the Sulafathna “great wall”. Their nomadic nature probably developed from the wandering habits of their main source of food, the Aux buffalo. They built temporary corals to winter the herd that they would live off until the following spring when they would move on to another site and to a new herd. They were never numerous, no doubt owing to the harsh climate of the plains between Larandor and the River Midras. Summer tended to be hot and arid as the highlands between Flentrush and Midras captured the rains coming eastward from the sea, and took the waters back south and west away from the plains. The tribe followed a Patriarchal line of chieftains though direct lineage, grandfather to father to son. Power was not handed on after death but when the old chief decided to retire for any challenge to the tribe was by law decided in combat between the rulers. No doubt this can be strongly attributed to preserving the body of the tribe where infant mortality was very high and losses in battle difficult to replace even after many generations. Their diet was mostly meat with roots gathered wild. They rode on sturdy ponies though more often used their beasts to pull the carts on which they carried their young and those not strong enough to walk such as women with child and the old. They did not bury their dead and left them for the animals to pick at; considering that life was a cycle and that the spirit of their ancestors lived on in the beasts that fed off them and in the earth they decayed into. Crows, rats and other carrion beasts were considered sacred as cleansers of the world. For nearly seven hundred years they populated the Plains until the Farianor Migration where the Sarach spread south east, themselves driven by war that was then being waged between the Elves and Fyrenhoth tribes of the Penulathgalen. By simple necessity the Sarach ravaged the Aux herds, decimating the Tammares and driving them back against Larandor where they managed for almost a century to continue their old way of life, though now a ferocious enemy of the Sarach who had brought them to the brink of annihilation. Deprived of a vast swathe of Plainsland on which the Sarach had founded numerous villages and made roads between their newly developing towns, domesticating the Aux and causing their wild numbers to drastically dwindle, the Tammares sought what they hoped to be temporary respite in Larandor. There were at that time innumerable deer and other wild animals to live off and being few in number the Tammares made little impact on what was to become a highly sustainable food source. Free of the accidental, but damaging, Sarach scourge they grew in numbers and spread deep into southern Larandor where around the 15th Century of the second era the Dwarrows at Kolebria first record them in the Annals of Bragi as crossing the Black river in great numbers and stripping the forest there. It seems that since their removal from the plains to the 15th Century their population increased dramatically for around the same time they are encountered by the Aldar who trade with them. At this time the Sarach came into conflict with the Dwarrows and were also being raided by the Karith whose ships were regularly landing at Fael Lanad and Fael Aladhras. The Sarach villages provided an easy and rich source of slaves and with no central government and a military purely based on local levee in times of need the more developed and better armed Karith decimated the coastal regions making them no longer tenable. The Sarach, far too numerous for the plains to sustain and pressed by the continuing expansion of the Fyrenhoth tribes pushing southward after suffering bruising defeats in their war with the Elves, continued an eastward migration settling in small numbers in the green but exposed hills of the Firhaleth but mostly in the lush mountain locked valleys of Andeburg and to a much greater extent in what was later to become the North Riding. The Tammares living on the edge of the Firhaleth, remembering in tribal lore how the Sarach drove them through their ancient home and built villages over the bones of the Tammares dead guarded the forest edge jealously. Larandor being the only source of wood for fire and building it was inevitable that again the two peoples would clash with the Tammares this time emerging the stronger. For some years the Tammares fought a purely defensive campaign (there was no scheme to the war, rather it was a series of clashes between small groups with the Sarach avoiding conflict and trying to enter the forest and leave before the nearest Tammarian tribal group got wind of them and sent their men folk out to drive them off.) The Sarach instinct for war was never strong but they had learned a little of its craft in defending themselves against the Karith and Fyrhaleth. On most occasions the Sarach won, being able to concentrate their forces, draw the Tammarians into battle and then having defeated them work the forest for a few days until the Tammarians gathered enough strength to properly threaten them. This may have remained the way of things if amongst the Tammarians a leader had not emerged and over fifteen years turn their disparate defending mobs into a sizeable army, no doubt learned from the Aldar whose trade with the Tammarians was well developed. For a few months the Sarach felt that they had driven the Tammarians further into Larandor as their woodcutters and defending warriors ranged with impunity across the forests southern edge. Then one by one the Sarach villages in the Firhaleth were assaulted, burned and their occupants of any age, sex and capability slaughtered. King Elgest sent an army of a thousand warriors, mmmmm nvxzzzFearing that the Sarach nation was under threat (quite wrongly) King Elgest ordered the building of a stone fortress on the only road into Andeburg from the north.
Langbane Moors
(Sarach: Lagbarachan Wet, damp, moist Lag Hills barcana sing Barch)
Holorian Shadowgards A corruption of The dark wall H. Molngarath)
Formerly a defensive area of the Sarach Kingdom which as the climate of the region worsened and the bogs extended throughout the valleys as the rivers silted became so more or less impassable. Its worth as a defensive line was further reduced when the Holorians fortified the Straska pass and built Talath Vidris. The mobility of the then Imperial Army meant that fortresses were situated away from a frontier but sufficiently close to garrison a large force for regional defence. The Alsocoria were not suited to fighting a scattered and thin defensive line, rather pitched battle on ground of their own choosing. This had the added advantage of forcing an enemy to either subdue every fortress garrison in its line of advance, or encircle it with sufficient troops to render it useless. This was a costly enterprise for any force, especially the ill disciplined barbarian enemies that the Holorians were used to dealing with. The Langbane moors covered a broad area, roughly equivelant to twice that of the North Riding and Andeburg stretching from the barrier mountains to the borders of Larandor though their northern reaches were considerably flatter and less treacherous than the southern, their being fed by the run off from the mountains rather than drained by the vast rivers of Aldaran. They had no true indigenous population but for a few hardy folk of mixed Sarach and barbarian stock trading in herbs, boar meat and wolf pelts. There were no villages or towns and no roads, save for the coastal causeway that fell into ruin when the Longridge way was founded in the third century. The landscape was that of tall, narrow ridged hills of sharp, bare stone falling to dense tussocky skirts and valley wetlands. There were innumerable streams and minor lakes and bogs and even an apparently flat expanse could suddenly fall away yawning to a deep and steep sided valley. Frequent mists, storms and long, bitter winters made it inhospitable indeed, though a few Sarach would venture out for days or even weeks in hunting the great and savage boar that roamed its many dense, matted forests. The use of a guide was strictly necessary, though not easy to come by as the indigenous folk were not welcoming of visitors and came out of the region only occasionally to trade with the neighbouring Marchelanders.
During the incursions of Geva the Varyag a battle was fought at an unnamed narrows where the Varyag chieftains had made their camp, assisted by some of the indigenous people of the region. The Holorians, several Mellin of approximately two thirds of the XIIth Alscoria, mostly Sarach and Demetanicians, managed to encircle the place and over a day and a half of manouver and skirmish finally clashed, claiming a swift victory. However the Holorian celebrations were short lived when a second Varyag force hurrying down from the north to join with their kinsmen in assaulting Sarachia arrived during the night. The Imperial forces, exhausted, depleted and having had too little time to fortify the location against attack (though none was actually expected) were overcome and slaughtered. Two Imperials managed to escape and reached Marchedale the following evening setting in motion a landslide of panic that resulted in thousands fleeing westward towards the hoped for safety of Byrgo Castle where a hasty force of six hundred troops was gathered to at the very least delay the Varyag force at the Straska Pass. Several days later and with the invasion still having not materialised the Imperial forces, two Alscoria and an auxillia of nearly a thousand local militia entered the Langbane Moors and advancing slowly along the few good paths reached the site of the earlier battles. Contrary to what might be expected there are numerous accounts detailing what was found. The Holorians propaganda machine was a well oiled and aggressively mercenary machine consigning defeats to the dark and forgotten cellars of antiquity as quickly as they possibly could. On this occasions the best way was to applaud the disaster as a victory by the back door, a heroic stand to the last man by a force marching to certain death to knock the wind out of an invader by presenting such an example of suicidal courage that he would not dare face another Holorian commander. Such was the message that returned to Illusidum and was set before the population that who could doubt the magnificence of the Empire and its soldiers? And what an absolute load of rubbish it was too. We can see by other examples of so called Holorian courage that they were not averse to running if faced with defeat, that whole Alscoria would revolt if they thought they were being sent to anything near certain death and in any case the Varyag were an unknown quantity. The disparity in the Sarach and Holorian reports of the state of the battlefield stand as testimony to the truth. What is not disputed is that the Holorian and other Imperial dead were stripped naked and left to rot in the grass and shallow pools, weapons, armour, shields and equipment had been taken and altars raised where corpses were mutilated and sufficient clear signs showed that the captives were in some cases not actually dead at the time. The Holorians describe these as the signatures of barbarians bent on murder and theft, practising cowardly acts on the defenceless (as did the Holorians in public arenas) and running for the hills when a larger force showed itself on the horizon. The Sarach report that the rites practiced seem moreover to have the Varyag respecting the dead. Their culture held that the dead should have their entrails exposed so that the spirit could escape. A body left to bloat and rot was a body left disrespected. The Varyag were an ancient people who had once been city dwellers who through remorseless pressure from other barbarian tribes had been forced back to a nomadic existence. The Holorians marked the site with their own version of the respectful. Mounds were raised to mark the places where the Imperial captives were mutilated before being killed and even a century and a half later the bones of the dead could be turned up from the soft earth just by walking across the tussock grasses.
Larandor/Sulafrathna
Generally referred and considered a single forest Larandor contained vast expanses of scrubland, swamp, dense woodlands, mountain, hill and extensive river valleys. It would at no time ever be considered part of any nations dominion, it consisted of so much nearly impenetrable and difficult land that it had little or no value, save for those who desired to disappear and not be found.
Karithia/Karithians
The only Imperial general to call himself conqueror of Karithia, albeit for a short time, was Leontius I. Utilising naval and land forces to the fullest possible extent he blockaded the southern ports and for almost a year denied the Karith any opportunity to reinforce and assist their beleagured forces in Karithia minor and even managed to land three Alscoria on the shores of Karithia Magna where they remained for three months, founding a base at Talath Leontius Cursucorum and marching along the coast devastating the regions there and defeating two armies sent against them. With the recall of the fleet, owing to the hugely mounting costs and relative lack of any benefit of maintaining such a force so far away, the land army at Talath Cursucorum was also forced to withdraw and the Karith with the aid of Massinian pirates quickly took command of the seaways and made the coast of Karithia minor untenable. The Imperial forces having made their point were however able to withdraw overland maintaining their authority and ensuring that the Karithian tribes were under no illusion about the power of the Empire to throw its weight about south of the River Efris and to do so whenever and however it pleased.
A humorous and mostly fictional interlude to the war came about when Leontius force arrived and founded Talath Surva and for the first time the Emperor looked across the straits of Scatha at the flat shoreline of Karithia Magna. A single plateau, not much higher than five hundred metres and about two miles in width and depth was the nearest point and there were seen the campfires of King Bucumedes having fled Karithia minor in the nick of time but leaving the bulk of his army behind. It was said in the streets of Illusidum that Leontius and Bucumedes traded insults across the straits and that gifts were then exchanged, Leontius finally being presented with the head of Farinius Setanta, Alscoriate of the XIIIth who had led his cavalry into an ambush and not only allowed his force to be butchered but the standards of the XIIIth to be taken along with Farinius himself. The Alscoriate is said to have provided a spectacle of cowardice in begging for his life and offering information on the approaching Imperial army. Bucumedes is famously quoted as informing Farinius; “why would I have need of your information when I see before me the sum of my enemies leaders, a man who would throw himself at my feet and kiss them without so much as a blade being raised against him?” Farinius was kept captive and humiliated by being made to serve the Karithian king dressed as a woman, including outrageous face paint and being given over to one or another of the Kings entourage to use him as a thing of pleasure. Finally Farinius managed to gather enough courage to steal a knife and to cut his own throat. His head when presented to Leontius was still painted to resemble that of a womans and here the joke between the two leaders of nations ended with Leontius stating that he would ravage the coast of Karithia Magna as punishment for the humiliations poured upon one of Holorian blood. The truth of the encounter would have been somewhat different in that the distance between the two points of land, Karithia minor and Karithia Magna was at that time more than fourteen miles, certainly too far for two men to shout to each other across. Leontius records show that ambassadors were exchanged over a period of several days with messages going between the two leaders, though the story of Farinius head and depravations is accurate enough. Leontius was prone to no exaggerations even if his chroniclers were.
Coritanicia
So named after the Holorian translation of the indiginous tribes, an offshoot of the Agalien racial group with some cross breeding with the Sarach with whom they seem to have been on friendly terms. The Coritanae were not warlike,
Brugansa (Sar: Shattered place)
Much criticism was made of the first Holorian settlers of the Agalien peninsula – there was never a dearth of such critics in Holorian society. As the often caustic Methesa wrote in one of his self titled wits "A visitor with such mettle as the Holorian race is undoubtedly allotted, would most certainly ponder upon the expanse of wilderness that teases the eye beyond the walls of any of our western Perecornae*, for it is both profitable and attainable. What are swords for in the west? The cutting of hams? or is there something of the soil and the water that renders a man who resides there less valiant than the woman of the east that bore him?" An unfair representation? Certainly, and more so that Methesa never so much as left sight of the coast of the Eastern Empire. His reasoning was popular amongst his peers, including those who had visited the west , for there did seem to be a lack of drive amongst the westerners to go much further inland than was strictly necessary. But why should merchants risk anything to do so? And merchants those early settlers were. Within a days ride of the perecornae of Lacarna was a wilderness of just such profitable renown and yet no effort was extended in annexing it. Brugansa was known to both the indiginous Coritani and to the Sarach, indeed the name itself is of Sarach origin, identifying the place as having at one time been settled to some extent by the Sarach tribes. By the time of the Holorian incursions the Sarach had long since moved northeast though their trade with the region had not ceased entirely and there were a few Sarach settlements along the coast and rivers. It seems more than likely then that the Brugansic people had arrived in the area sometime after the Sarach and there is no doubt that the hostile nature and more advanced marshal abilities of these latter Brugansians expelled the Sarach entirely from the area that would henceforth bear their name. The Brugansians of the Holorian period were therefore likely not advanced much in weapon making and warfare since their first arrival, yet the fear of them had not diminished. The land itself was difficult and treacherous, thickly wooded and strewn with great boulders that formed narrow channels through which any invading force would have to squeeze with the attendant risks that would bring. It was rich in flora, many species of which were useful medicinally and culinary, with several species of poisonous growths though the Brugansians did not to deem their use fair in warfare, though they frequently tortured captives. The land rose from the west bank of the Efris quite sharply, then descending melted into the Iskan plain. There were few identifiable paths and no roads until the Holorians drove the Long Causeway through its midst, though the Brugansians rarely tired of haranguing those Imperial travellers who were not adequately protected. What of the Brugansians themselves? They spoke an ancient dialect of the Agalien and fought not dissimilarly to the Scath to whom they were closely related. They maintained a tribal form of society grouped about permanent settlements that they were not slow to abandon if need took them. They had no direct chieftain or lord, annually choosing from amongst their number between three and five male elders to sit in government, a position limited to overseeing disputes and chairing any gathering called to decide the response to crisis. Though they were a hardy people, accustomed to eking out a living from a difficult land and accomplished warriors they had no concept of war beyond ambushing those found within the bounds of their lands or within a comfortable nights assault of their borders. That a number of Sarach settlements remained within a few hours of Brugansa long after the Sarach had been expelled from it says much. Their existence can only be explained in part by continued trade. Whereas one Brugansian tribe might be happy to trade, another would most certainly have seen opportunity and ripped apart the palisade walls. As later Holorian military commanders discovered, the Brugansians were a force indeed when within their borders but bring them to battle at a less favourable place and the fight would be weighted against them heavily. Nevertheless Brugansa remained a name to haunt the ears of civilised men and no few merchants would find themselves cursing, or worse still, ruined by the destruction of a caravan that had dared the Long Causeway and entered Brugansa without sufficient sword hands to keep the natives at bay.
Iska (Kar: Yellow land)
During the incursions of the Karithians many tribes fled northwards, some where they came into contact with more powerful tribes, caught between the hammer and the anvil were absorbed or simply ceased to exist, whereas some settled upon the periphery of the new nation that was Karith. Occasionally one such collection of tribes would coalesce especially under a powerful ruler. The Iska were early Karithian settlers, pushed northwards by their later kinsmen and through several hundred years splitting into a number of tribes throughout what would later be called Karithia and Agalien. By the time they reached the River Efail they would regroup into a larger tribe, returning to their origins as it were, and finding the land richer and easier to defend, would find a strength that the Karith would come to fear. Gradually the Iska developed villages that became towns, mud walled and protected by ramparts and towers. Never again would they allow the Karith to threaten their existence and under their leader, a hereditary Pheron or Great King, the Iska would become the largest and most powerful tribe of the Karithian nations.
Trolls (Hol: Gaurhoth / Kar: Yrged Shea: Shartan)
Wild beasts of great strength and inhuman stature with various racial offshoots. Sand trolls haunt the fringes of the Karithian deserts whereas Snow trolls, larger and more aggressive are a terror indeed to the peoples of the north.
Maruk (Karithian) (Hol: Cetanta)
Maruk, in its strictest terms, applied to camel cavalry.
Covvus Astaratorum (Hol: Port of Astaratus) (Kar:Astaroth)
Principal northern port of the Holorian City States, founded by Philipides Astarates, Alscoriate of the XIIth Alscoria of Demetanicians under Emperor Nicasus. Initially nothing more than a functional dock and garrison, Astaroth slowly developed trade links along the northern coasts until the opening of trade with the Farianorian tribes brought a rich source of silver. Suddenly Astaroth was the focus of the Western Empire and that of the Karith who sought to return piracy to the North Sea. Astaroth expanded swiftly, city walls being raised with a single grand gate in the style of Illusidum. The port walls were eventually dismantled as the city became so densely populated that it was beyond any hope of the Karith to try to capture it. Astaroth is described by several writers as the most beautiful of all the City States with magnificent temples opening onto great squares with fountains fed by springs from the mountains above. The port extended along several canals into the city, crossed by wooden swing bridges that could allow vessels to proceed into the market and trade districts. Statues, spectacular promenades, wide causeways and lavish parklands were its mark, great use being made of marble and local limestone. Within the mountains to the east was a huge hollowed cavern in which was set the entrance gate to Talath Astaratorum, the citadel of Astaroth built entirely within the mountainous promontory that formed the eastern arm of Astaroth bay. The fortress face was carved and built into the rock overlooking the sea and on its top sited a tower and gardens. Throughout the second century and well into the third Astaroth enjoyed wealth and fame, beauty and splendour almost rivalling that of Illusidum, but all that was to change. With the annexation of Faranor and the creation of the Long Causeway there was little need for traders to risk a sea journey and to negotiate the mountains and forests of Setanicia. Karisum became the gateway to the City States and when silver was discovered in Andeburg there was even less need of a trade port. Gradually the population of Astaroth declined and although building projects continued in the same grand style as before there was every sign that Astaroth had peaked and was due to begin a decline. As less traffic used the road between Demetanicia and Astaroth so the nomadic tribes of Setanicia became more of a problem until a regular guard was required just to keep the way open. Finally the need to withdraw a great part of the garrisons at Astaroth and Baranoth opened the way for the Karith to renew their piracy. Four times Astaroth was assaulted by a force of corsairs until finally, having endured so much, its entreaties ignored by several Emperors, worthless to the Consulori, the city capitulated. From thereafter Astaroth decayed. The monuments, towers, walls, fountains and statues, temples, palaces and other magnificent buildings fell to ruin, became green slimed and ivy smothered. The great gate hung upon its hinges and rats, feral dogs and cats and other nocturnal beasts began to haunt its streets. The port throve, though trade was now criminal. Slaves and pirate stolen goods were commonplace. Astaroth remained busy, its streets thronged by day with traders, merchants, pirates, prostitutes, thieves, those whose occupations and predelictions were unwanted by their tribes or even the Holorian city states. A prisoner having escaped a Holorian dungeon could, if he could find his way to Astaroth, live there without fear of recapture.
In 286 the Emperor Valisarius sought to retake Astaroth and destroy the Karithian pirate fleet there. He was succesful and for almost two years parts of the city were returned to order. Sadly Valisarius was killed and the minor garrison he had placed at Astaroth was not sufficient to retain more than a tenuous hold upon the city. Valisarius body having been recovered from Setanicia along with his soldiers was buried in a purpose built park surrounded by fountains and statues. As Astaroth continued in decay, so the tombs decayed with it until they were smothered in creepers and so overgrown that more than thirty years later they had been entirely forgotten even by those who called Astaroth home.
In Domie 325 Emperor Tassius sent an expedition to Astaroth and for a further one hundred and thirty years Astaroth was returned to its original beauty, a holiday resort no less! But as the Holorian city states collapsed once and for all, so Astaroth disappeared from history.
Baranoram (Hol: City of Barana) (Kar: Baranoth)
Founded three years after Astaroth and named in honour of Emperor Bacchus wife who travelled several times to the city port and had there an extensive summer residence. Famed for its fishing and extensive lobster and oyster farms, Baranorum began as a simple garrison and military port. Trade was minimal and the risk initially from local tribes and Karithian pirates limited the settlements appeal until the Holorian Northern Fleet was of sufficient strength to dissuade the Karith from any more than the occasional brave stab. As the Ithakaian islands were also garrisoned by the Imperial Fleet the threat to Baranoth was pretty much non existent and with the rise of nearby Phaekis the Setanician tribes had been forced east of the Grey Mountains and were not to pose a threat again for another sixty years.
The earliest polis, or settlement was a simple walled affair for the families of veterans and serving soldiers of the XIIth Alscoria. As a small fishing fleet developed so trade increased until the River Hoathing saw regular flotillas of merchant vessels bringing mostly seafood to Phaekis and Theme. Once the Imperial eye had properly fallen upon Baranoth and the potential for wealth recognised, Baranoth began to grow. Although eclipsed by Astaroth during that cities golden age, Baranoth continued to swell, its fishing fleet becoming the largest of any City and its oyster and lobster farms spreading far along the coast both east and west and deep into the route of the Hoathing. Baranoths downfall was its lack of defence for as soon as the Setanician tribes returned to the region so quickly Baranoth, robbed of the protection that Astaroth had once provided, was abandoned. Those who had made their wealth from the city did not reside there and had no long term interest in the place, whilst those who had their homes there found it not too difficult to migrate the Phaekis, indeed thousands had already done so. In barely a decade almost a third of Baranoths population moved to Phaekis, the number increasing as the Setanician threat re-emerged. From the outlying farms and settlements being abandoned to the entire city being left to its own defences took barely fifteen more years and by 314 it was entirely empty save for the wild things that haunted its alleyways and empty buildings. An occasional patrol in strength from Phaekis kept Baranoth from being a safe harbour for the Karithian pirates who in any case much preferred Astaroth, entirely forgotten and ignored by the Holorians. Baranoth was always a functional city, its surrounding lands beautiful enough to attract holiday makers whilst there was a fashion for such pastimes. It had no wall and few parks, being a rather unlovely port surrounded by fairly bland buildings and few temples. Its taverns and Inns were both lively and dangerous, its outskirts being by far more favourable. The wealthy and famous had their quarter along the east bank of the Hoathing and overlooking the city.
Natalia (Hol: Natalas city)
Third largest city of the Holorian City states nestled beneath the southern spur of the Hir Adras. Natalia was founded by the earliest Holorian settlers as a slave market, a trade in which it excelled above all others. Its great walls dominate the fields over which it looks and its markets are reputed to be the best stocked and largest of any City State. Assaulted several times by Karithian and Iskan tribal armies, Natalia also warred with Hithorion, her army being routed at Fraris and put under captivity. Strong ties with Illusidum produced several Emperors that were citizens of Natalia, most notable being Valisarius who maintained a great love for his mother city. Natalia was built in the pre-western style, very much Eastern in design and development. Squared walls with several grand parks and broad causeways, temple precincts and open squares provided for a sense of great wealth. Natalia was renown as a city that never slept.
Hithorion (Hol; Starlit)
Proof that names can be deceiving. Hithorion, the second largest and most heavily populated of the City States was a squalid, industrial and busy city, as dangerous as it could be entertaining. Its Arena was the envy of the Holorian nation, producing more infamous Bladesmen than any other, equally its Myrions (the guards of the enslaved Bladesmen and ex bladesmen themselves) were unrivalled. Sited at a crossroads of several major highways Hithorion outgrew its walls many times and despite having a number of prominent temples, parks and government buildings, was mostly a maze of alleyways, treacherous crossroads, slums, dead end courtyards and cheap housing run by unscrupulous landlords.
Phaekis
Moderately sized city sited upon the edge of the Setanician wilds and grown richer and more prosperous following the decline of Baranoth. High walled and well protected, birthplace of Emperors Bacchus, Tassius and the infamous Tarma, built in the Eastern style with open causeways, squares and several great temples. Olives, fruit and sea produce are its main exports.
Theme
Beautiful, well protected and modern city of the Western Holorian style with many fountains, wells and a principal marketplace for grain. The surrounding farmlands and vineyards give Theme both wealth and worth to the Holorian people. Sacked by the Karith, Theme was rebuilt making extensive use of marble and limestone. It is said that a peasant from Theme would be a king in any other town. Theme became the capital city of the Western City States in 322 when the Emperor Tassius disbanded the Consulor system and moved his seat of power there.
Caleth Fale
Two minor towns, Caleth Fale and Caleth Tenesh sit beneath the western face of the Barrier Mountains. The site of earlier Sarach and Coritanician settlements, both became walled Holorian towns centred upon their markets. Timber and ore from the Barrier Mountains may be found at Caleth Fale, whereas Caleth Tenesh (often simply called Tenesh) has a thriving livestock market.
Peresia (Persa's city)
Similar to Hithorion, sited upon a crossroads a postal route for the mounted messengers of the Consulori, walled Peresia is a functional city, a thriving livestock and fisheries market and home to the largest community of jewellers and weapon makers of the Holorian City States. Peresia is also a port of the Holorian Navy and a thriving market port. Surrounding the city are vineyards and farms, and extensive horseherds that provide a supply to the Holorian military.
Karisum (Hol: Carricias gate) (Carricia Sulum)
Following the annexation of the Sarach kingdoms, Karisum was founded as a garrison and market town both protecting the province and providing a jumping off point for further excursion eastward. It was the intention of the City States under
Talath Spirna (Hol: Antler garrison)
Part way along the Capranecurum and set there as a protecting garrison on the site of a Torvanician sacred stone ring. The garrison held out in 317 against numerous assaults by the invading Vanduric armies, finally succumbing when the gates were ruined by fire. The slaughter within the walls was utter. The destruction of the tombs of the Emperors by the Vandurs servants sealed the fate of Talath Spirna. There was nothing left to guard save for a sacred road and empty tunnels. The tower stood for more than a hundred and seventy years before a landslip of the mountains weakened its foundations and the tower fell.
Valdensaga Gate
Following the annexation of Sarachia several strong places were raised, primarily to protect the extents of the Empire, but also to keep the indigenous Sarach in check. The Sarach proved to be little to no threat however, soon discovering that semi slavery beneath the Holorians was far better and safer than a free existence under the fickle and frequently changing Sarach kings. Andeburg (North Sarachia) was initially considered a wasteland of no worth until it was discovered that the silver and gold ware of the Sarach had been captured from the Coritanician tribes that the Sarach had overcome to take the land. The Sarach neither quarried or mined and it was assumed that any ore utilised by them was obtained in trade from the Doraeans. When old Coritanician workings were uncovered in the Barrier mountains the Holorian industrial machine moved in. Extensive tunnelling, quarrying and building work transformed Andeburg so that within fifty years its population had grown from a few hundred to several thousand. Settlement was simple, though stone built and practical with sufficient temples for the Holorian settlers to remain within the favour of the gods. Protected by the Barrier Mountains and the River Viknoy to the south only one way lay open to an invader, the Varlen Pass. A narrow, cliff flanked river carved channel, it required protection and to that end the Holorians raised a wall, fortress and gate, the Valdensaga, an imposing and formidable structure indeed. It was never to be tested. Abandoned by the military when plague ruined Andeburg, the gates were closed and barred. Thirty years later it was to be put to use again by the Vandur, no longer the beautiful structure of Holorian design, darkness and shadow haunted its corridors, its ramparts ivy strung and blackened, it was a mouth of evil onto a foul land, its statues having been despoiled by the barbarians that now inhabited the pass.
Reclaimed by Emperor Tassius in 320 when the last barbarians were hunted from its tunnels and rooms, the gates were replaced and a guard placed upon the pass once more that lasted for almost a hundred and fifty years until the final demise of the Holorian city states.
Talath Lindun (Hol: Fortress of the pinetrees)
Raised during the reign of Diacletus as a guard on the long causeway and post station between the Caleth towns and the Hoathing garrisons. Fell into disrepair under Valisarius when its garrison was required for expansionist tasks. During the reign of Comitatis Talath Lindun again became a post station
