- ‘Best Knight’: My lord, is it prudent to simply leave this information lying about?
- The Winter Swallow: Oh come on, who’s gonna find it? This is the Snowbound Castle of the Crystalline Forest. Even if someone manages to break in, do you think they’ll make it past Terra?
- ‘BK’: My lord.
- TWS: Don’t look at me like that! I make sure to properly store everything potentially hazardous when we have guests for ‘Demon Castle Conquest’ parties. And what’s the worst that could happen?
- ‘BK’: My concern is not to Lady Terra’s martial proficiency and more to the quality of information and lack of context. You speak as though to an audience with all your awareness, with the ambivalence born of untold ages of observation. What if the wrong hands find this document and misinterpret its contents? Or use it to conspire against the nation therein?
- TWS: I plan on sending it to Morgan and Sirius for editing. You happy?
- ‘BK’: Serving you, my lord? Never. I know you are merely seeking to store good will for the next time you need me to clean up an Extra-solar you let slip through the cracks.
- TWS: …
- ‘BK’: And he left the room. Classic. In that case I shall assume he has no issue with me appending this conversation to the document and sending it to Lady Morgan immediately. Serves the fool right.
Basic History
Tycortua is one of the oldest nations on the continent, only Nypheos and Lugherion of the Threefold Eye predating it as they managed to escape the age of ruin brought about by the Dusk Tyrant intact, and thus it possesses one of the richest histories on the continent. A rich history only made all the richer by its unique status on the mainland as the only nation to exist outside the domain of the Sunfire Empire. That being said, much of this history was warped by the presence of Tycortua’s founder, Zephyros. The lands of Tycortua were once home to other kingdoms and cultures, but much of the information surrounding them was quashed after they were conquered by the Storm Warlord, replaced by something of a fusion between the native culture and Aeslian culture from Morningstar. With all that being said, modern Tycortua came into being around two thousand years ago, when Zepyhros came to earth from Morningstar and conquered these lands, eventually bringing their might under the Ember King’s banner and helping him to defeat the Dusk Tyrant. Speaking of Zephyros, he was a Quatrainian, Demon Folk, Noble and that particular generation’s head of the Stormtide family from House Grian. Much of the information surrounding Morningstar is irrelevant to Tycortua’s history, beyond the point that the Stormtides were established to keep watch over one Lord Morata’s seal, sending their greatest warriors to face him whenever they sensed his seal weakening as it did when the Dusk Tyrant drew upon his power. After the Dusk Tyrant was defeated, Tycortua was allowed to exist outside of the Sunfire Empire mostly out of respect for the Storm Warlord and the part he played in helping the Ember King. With the Empire ensuring peace and in control over much of the continent, Tycortua took a passive role in world affairs, mostly focusing in on itself and developing as a nation. This, of course, helped establish it as the world power it is today, since it was one of very few nations to remain stable after the fall of the Sunfire Empire. The next millennium was somewhat more tumultuous than the first, with war consuming the nearby lands as nobles jockeyed for power and sought to establish their own kingdoms from the wreckage of the Empire, but Tycortua stood strong throughout it all by virtue of their superior military might and the power of the Crownguard.
All of this being said, it is worth note that two thousand years is a very long time for a single nation to remain intact. An almost miraculous amount of time, all things considered. Much of this results from the same thing that led to its stability and developmental superiority: its isolation. For the first millennium of its existence, the kingdom was alone, surrounded by a single overwhelmingly strong empire. A promise had been made and the Crownguard’s power was there to protect the borders, but those in power always worried about what that promise would amount to when Zephyros was nothing more than words in a history book. These worries only increased when the Empire shattered and the kingdom was now surrounded by power hungry nations looking for weak and divided lands to conquer. As such, it became common practice among the kingdom to present the heir of Zephyros as monarch no matter what, to present unity no matter what. Even when members of the nobility tried to band together and seize the throne, Crownguards thought to use Zephyros’ arms to overthrow his weak heir, or younger princes or princesses coveted their sibling’s birthright, they made sure to act as though nothing were out of the ordinary, for fear of showing weakness. Most of the time, they sought to keep the heir of Zephyros as ‘monarch’, nothing more than a figurehead to keep the country united behind while they ruled from behind the scenes. With this in mind, the royal family has been able to keep direct descent from the first king of Tycortua. This might seem to mean little after two thousand years, when a good percentage of Tycortua if not the whole south can claim descent from Zephyros, but for matters of magical significance, inheritance matters. By that same token, even with a few rebellious Crownguards in their number, the Crownguard family can trace direct lineage back to the first of their number. The last coup occurred some hundred years ago, when a coalition of nobility banded together and usurped power from the throne. They regained power when King Thierry’s great-grandfather, Turpin Martel Tycortua, and his Crownguard, Levi’s grandfather named Maccabees Fierabras Crownguard, utilized a border conflict to reorganize military structure, intentionally placing themselves in easy victories that made them look like heroes while the nobility stayed behind in safe fortresses. As for how the monarchy regained power after these coups, it’s curious, but each of the rebellious regimes ended up overthrown after no more than a generation, a better monarch than the one they overthrew taking their place. And all the conspirators conveniently disappeared, some would say into the darkness on a moonless night.
System of Government
Quite frankly, the government of Tycortua is incredibly uninteresting as these things go. That is to say, it is a strict monarchy, ruled by a single king or queen. The position is hereditary, though not intrinsically patriarchal or matriarchical, and has been passed down, supposedly, in the line of the Storm Warlord Zephyros since the days of the Dusk Tyrant. The monarch holds absolute authority and is required to bow to no one, with no checks to their power. There isn’t much else to say about this beyond anything you might usually find in a monarchy. One way or another, the monarchy has persisted for two thousand years without significant corruption or abuse of power, but there have been some unfortunate incidents over the centuries. Otherwise, there is a system of nobility in place to handle some of the finer details of governance, the country split into twelve separate districts which each have six noble houses to overlook that particular section of the city. Of these houses, both the royal family, known simply as House Tycortua, and the Crownguard family are considered among their number as families of the district surrounding the capital, though they have greater standing than the rest. The interesting thing about this, however, is that it shows signs of how the nation was founded in the principles of Morningstar, the seventy-two noble families mirroring the houses of the Demonfolk. As for the representation of the Four Monarchs, that is only really present as a formality, particularly with how the noble families have been divided. Strictly speaking, the Noble Houses are divided according to season, each season providing a general indication of what their family is traditionally responsible for in governing a district. Very loosely speaking, Summer families are responsible for military, Autumn for commerce, Winter for academics, and Spring for religion. There is a distinction between titled nobility, who hold these house positions, and hereditary nobility who do not necessarily. The title is inherited, but at the discretion of the previous owner. Similarly, if a Lord or Lady is deemed unworthy of the role, the governors beneath them are given the right to call for a hearing. If the noble is determined to be in dereliction of their duty, the current monarch will place a new family in the house role. With this in mind, each town or city has its own governor set under the jurisdiction of the local Lord or Lady. Otherwise, the legal system is notably based according to the Morningstar code as opposed to the traditional Sunfire code formed by ancient Austallan Judges. This historically caused some conflicts over minor legal differences between neighboring nations, but accommodations have been made over the years. Quite frankly, the friction isn’t as bad as it could have been since fundamentally most of the crimes are the same, save for some niche cases, meaning it’s primarily a difference in punishment and rights.
Climate and Resulting Architecture
The climate of Tycortua is extremely mild. Summer’s are pleasantly warm and winters cool without turning to bitter cold. Similarly, there is enough rainfall through spring and summer to ensure healthy growth of crops and a mild amount of snow in the fall and winter, to supplement aquifers and aid plants which require cold to trigger their growth in the spring. With all of this being said, Tycortua’s architecture developed with little need for excessive environmental concerns. Buildings had to be closed off for the colder winter months, of course, but not insulated to the same degree as the likes of Naktikos and Skahios. In a similar way, building material was never much of a concern with plenty of lumber available in Thicket Forest and stone quarries scattered across the central plains and rich in the Golden Hills. In the broadest of terms, architecture was historically defined by the wealth of the settlement and what building materials they could afford. For countryside villages, houses and shops were built of wood in a half-timbered style; the frame is left visible on the exterior and filled between with planks coated in plaster. The roofs of such buildings are almost always a type of wooden shingle. In such villages, the only stone buildings tend to be fortifications, storehouses, and Teacher’s Halls. Of those three, storehouses have no particular style, and are often sturdy, long buildings with cellars dug beneath and set with icestones for refrigeration, while the other two share a similar style with the rest of the nation. All Tycortuan fortifications are built of stone with high, crenelated walls regularly set with rounded towers meant as both watch posts and fire platforms for ballista or lattice-cannons. Castles have a similar round tower design and are built on hills and surrounded by moats with a drawbridge and portcullis to prevent unwanted entry. Teacher’s Halls and other religious or academic buildings, on the other hand, share a kind of Gothic style with a heavy focus on height. Interiors are designed with a multitude of arches, complementing the ribbed vaults used to hold up the buildings, while exteriors have a more pointed aesthetic, with tapering steeples and flying buttresses. All of this also aids in the construction of large, decorative windows, often filled with stained glass scenes in such buildings. This style persists from the smallest villages to the great cities of Tycortua, but is best seen in the cathedrals of Riverluck, Teacher’s Halls large enough to fit entire town squares in. More urban towns have a similar half-timbered construction for common houses, but with a brick infill instead of planks and slate shingle roofs. The wealthier residents build stone houses in a similar style, though out of aesthetic concerns rather than construction requirements. It’s only in large cities like Plainsheart and Riverluck that nobility build their manors in a style similar to the Gothic used by the Teacher’s Hall. They are further influenced, however, by the sprawling design of the Riverluck Palace. As such, most manors are vast complexes with a first floor that connects several taller outbuildings to a central keep. These outbuildings and keeps are in the gothic style, while the lower floor focuses on using natural light to fill the corridors, lining them with near floor to ceiling windows only kept up by arches set in the walls. The greatest unifying trend among Tycortua’s architecture is their odd instance on making their buildings white. This stems, to a certain extent, from the marble and limestone used by the wealthier households, but the white paint and whitewash used by commoners is more an attempt to keep the theme than a necessity. One of the suggested reasons behind this pattern is that it highlights the cleanliness of Tycortua’s towns and cities, since these white walls are kept spotless. Another is that it provides a more interesting contrast to the gardens they grow within their cities, the green vines and vibrant flowers striking on a veritable blank canvas. There may be some credit to the latter theory, as most towns do have decorative public gardens in addition to the minor plots households grow for their own use, as well as fountains, streams, and ponds meant to complement the flowers and trees. Nowhere adheres to this theme quite as strongly as Riverluck, but it is present throughout the nation.
Language and Names
As with all nations in Chevaladin, the principal language spoken is Empire Common, the language of the old Sunfire Empire. The language itself is fairly straightforward, compared to some of the indigenous vernaculars, and continues to be used across the continent for that same simplicity. Put simply, it’s a language closest in construction to a group of five similar languages from many calamity cycles ago. In terms of writing, Empire Common uses the old standard alphabet of twenty-six letters from ‘a’ to ‘z’. The only slight divergence are accents upon the vowels, used to indicate the stress upon the syllables. Accented vowels indicate a stressed syllable. In the absence of an accented vowel, if the final letter of a word is a vowel, ‘s’, ‘l’, ‘n’, or ‘r’, the second to last syllable is stressed. Otherwise the last syllable is stressed. Vowels themselves are pronounced according to the rules of the old five: ‘ah’, ‘eh’, ‘e’, ‘o’, and ‘ooh’; respectively to ‘a’, ‘e’, ‘i’, ‘o’, and ‘u’. There are enough rules to verbal conjugations across several tenses that the only thing worth saying is that there are six conjugations according to person: first person, second person, and third person in both singular and plural for each. All persons are neutral in both gender and honorific. Sentences are constructed in a style of Subject – Verb – Predicate. Empire Common is similar to Realms Common, as both share a root in the old Unified Earth Common spoken by the people of Lanturia, but different enough that speaking one cannot allow you to speak the other. The Quatrainians have an awareness of both languages, thanks to Zephyros’ contact across the Realms and the Stormtide family’s efforts, but Empire Common is considered a rarer language only used by scholars interested in the Lataoccas super-continent, both Lacalba and Marivento sharing usage of the language.
As for indigenous vernaculars, Tycortua has two somewhat prominent languages. The first was native Tycortuan, a language which was rendered all but extinct by Zephyros’ conquest. In modern times, only scholars, historians, and theologians speak or write Tycortuan. The language is not worth discussing excessively for this reason. It used a written script more runic in nature than Empire Common’s alphabet, with each letter paired to a particular symbological root that influences the pronunciation and meaning. For instance, the equivalent vowel ‘a’ would be pronounced ‘a’ with a wind root and indicate a meaning of freedom while it would be pronounced ‘ah’ with an earth root and indicate a meaning of steadfastness. This made it a bit of a pain, albeit a very poetic language, because a single word could have up to six conjugations depending on person and several different meanings according to symbological root, different ones applying in different situations. The other language is Morningstar’s High Royal, brought to Chevaladin by Zephyros. The language is the same as the fae language known as Old Sidhe, virtually unchanged across calamity cycles. It’s only really used by nobility and royalty in extremely formal situations. To an extent, it’s considered the official language of Tycortuan scholarship and legalism, so it does have some influence in other nations as well.
The naming conventions of Tycortua are somewhat interesting when compared to some of the simpler forms from earlier calamity cycles. For a person’s forename, the name chosen does not necessarily adhere to cultural standards, but follows a particular naming motif chosen for a given period. Each motif consists of a paired vowel and consonant, in either order, placed somewhere within the name. The period is traditionally four years, but often shifts when a member of nobility decides they want to. Each period must be at least a year long, with the major exception of the royal family who shift the naming motif at their leisure. This gives them a more diverse collection of forenames from a linguistic sense, but very similar names in terms of spelling. For example, Regina’s Reckoners were born in a period of ‘a’ and ‘l’ and have the names Nalren, Mallory, Kalan, Paula, and Lalia. With that being said, naming motifs are no real indicator of age because, for instance, Viola could belong to the same naming motifs as Levi, Allard, or Phlox. Likewise, some families prefer to follow their own traditions, like the Rousseau noble family who always include the root ‘el’ in their names. As for surnames, villagers only give surnames for their own utility, little more than nicknames. They have their own methods of tracking family lineage and ensuring proper inheritance, so any given surname is only for the village’s use. A given surname need not even be constant across a family. For example, Erica’s Greenmaiden’s family is actually referred to as the Westhill family. Similarly, when outside of their given village, people tend to be referred to by village instead of surname. In towns and cities with higher population density, there are enough people that surnames actually matter and tend to be given according to occupation. The nobles use historical names for their families for their surname, out of tradition instead of anything else. Very few people in Tycortua use middle names. The major exceptions to this are the royal family and the Crownguard family. The royalty has no surname because they do not need one, so their second given name replaces the surname. The Crownguards also follow this tradition as they are royalty adjacent. Only a few rare members of nobility also give middle names, for personal reasons. For example, Lady Alice Iris Ellis was given a middle name in recognition of her parents’ service to the royal family, who long used an iris as a secondary insignia.
Economics and Cuisine
Economically speaking, Tycortua is one of the wealthier nations in Chevaladin. But more importantly, it’s easily the nation with the stablest degree of wealth, the likes of Perlora and Aingriya depending heavily upon the current market climate. This is as a result of Tycortua’s strong degree of self-sufficiency. Since it needed to develop its own means of production for everything while the Sunfire Empire ruled, it now has far less need of any external goods when compared to the specialized ex-Sunfire states. So a majority of its imports are for commodity goods: the likes of dyes and fine fabrics, gems and jewelry, exotic spices and ingredients, and other nations’ top of the line products. This in turn lets them use the ingredients they bring in to make better and better versions of their own goods for export. So while, for example, Tycortua’s art style is not considered as technically good as Rugego’s, the artists are capable of supplementing their modest talent with more vibrant paints and higher quality canvas. With that in mind, Tycortuan goods have a reputation for reliability over excellence. They are almost never the best in any category, but they manage to be consistently good enough that they are worth the price, especially since Tycortuan merchants know what price to set. In short: the price does not earn as much per unit, but tends to sell more units.
The economy is much the same on an interior, microcosmic level as well. Each individual town or village tends to be self-sufficient. Enough crops are grown to feed the village, local smiths can make what tools are needed, and hedge-doctors can treat all common ailments. The only settlements that do need to bring in outside food sources are the larger cities like Riverluck and Plainsheart, which can buy crops from local villages anyway. As such, each village tends to have an individual commodity they focus on as a community to sell externally. For example, Regina’s Bounty, in addition to the personal farms, has a series of community vineyards in the nearby hills and an orchard. The fruit from these is used, when not necessary to supplement the town’s food reserves in lean years, to make wines and brandies that are sold to other nearby towns. The profit from these sales largely goes to paying for community projects like construction of new irrigation aqueducts, repairs on the roads, and upkeep on the sewage system, but a certain amount of excess is allotted to everyone who contributed and worked in to covering the taxes to the royalty. Every village has a similar structure in place, the particular product produced depending on the village.
As for cuisine, Tycortua does have one of the most well developed culinary forms in Chevaladin. If anything could be considered the nation’s specialty, it’s cooking, though other nations tend to argue for their own cuisine’s supremacy. The mild nature of the Tycortuan plains allows them to grow a wide array of crops and raise most livestock, so there are few ingredients that cannot be locally sourced. Similarly, the fishing villages along the coast bring in enough fish of several varieties that they are capable of cooking seafood competently as well. Generally speaking, the limitation upon what is made depends more on seasonality of ingredients than anything else. And the seasoning of dishes is done with a kind of delicacy most other cuisines lack, Tycortua’s practice of saucing dishes better than any other nation’s and spice blends like the famous Herbs du Tycortua used all across Chevaladin. Any given dinner will have some form of protein cooked in a sauce accompanied by seasonal vegetables, wine or juice, and bread. To the matter of wine, it is something of a peculiarity of Tycortua, but they are one of the only nations to instate a legal drinking age, such matters far more common in Zephyros’ Morningstar. To the matter of bread, the absolute pinnacle of Tycortuan cuisine is their baking tradition. Wheat is the most grown crop of the country and every family eats bread daily, most in country villages baking their own. More than that, however, the pastries they’ve developed are considered the best sweets in Chevaladin, with no other nation coming close. As a final note, Tycortuans often drink coffee in the mornings; the beans imported from the Sea Scar Archipelago and the brewed grounds pressed through cheesecloth. Princess Adelaide’s fixation with tea is notably a personal preference and most of the nobility silently look down at her for it.
Fashion
The fashion of Tycortua is perhaps the least interesting thing about the nation, even more so than its very straightforward system of governance. Looking at it from a historical perspective, the best guess that can be figured is that as a result of the founder’s complete lack of interest in clothing and great interest in warfare, the styles common to the region developed in two parts out of the local common garb and the uniforms of the military. Put another way, the commoners, generally speaking, continued to wear what they’d always worn while the nobles tried to adopt their king’s style, or lack thereof, and gave themselves a more militaristic look. For most of the common folk, their clothing tends towards a certain simplicity, resulting from the mild climate and environment of Tycortua. Since the weather is never too hot in the summer nor too cold in the winter, they need not make special accommodations for them, and since the land is mostly rolling plains, there is no need for heavily protective garb. As such, commoners usually wear simple and comfortable workmen’s clothes. This usually means sturdy pants and a simple pullover shirt for men and a dress for women, both cut in as plain and functional a style as possible. The differentiation based upon gender is not a hard and fast rule, and it is not rare to see women wearing pants and a shirt as well, if their occupation requires them to be able to move more easily or if they just prefer it, but that is the general trend. It seems to be a reflection of their trends in dress clothes, with it a far more firm rule, though not without exception, for men to wear slacks, a collared shirt with buttons down the front, and a vest on special occasions while women wear dresses with styles and cuts more focused on looking good than practicality. With regards to weather, the general concession given is the sleeve length and outerwear. In the warmer months, both genders wear shorter sleeves and in the colder months, both wear longer sleeves. During winter, both have similar styles of coats that they wear, Tycortua somewhat interesting in that they are one of the few nations to have developed coats specifically as cold weather wear, most nations still using cloaks for similar purposes and coats as more of a protective garb.
In terms of the fashion of nobility, it could perhaps best be described as stiff. To the point that everything about it has a tendency towards being carefully pressed or starched or held in place by various mechanisms to look proper and well put together. Men wear outfits that look similar to the uniforms of the officers in the Tycortuan army, pressed pants, shirts that button down the front, and light coats meant more for looks than protection or comfort. On the other end of the spectrum, women usually wear dresses with more superfluous cloth, the ‘stiffness’ of the style in how they almost sculpt the cloth after making it less pliable, forming it into shapes reminiscent of natural phenomenon. Usually wind, in keeping with the general theme kept out of respect for the Storm Warlord, but sometimes waves like water, ripples like flames, or jagged edges like rock features. The general exception to this, however, is the women of nobility that have more of a militaristic life themselves, either through personal vocation or house history. They tend to wear uniform-like suits similar to men, albeit cut differently to better fit their physiques. A more modern exception is in the current princess Adelaide, who could not be bothered to deal with fashion. While she enjoys looking good, she cares significantly more about ease of movement and, as such, had the palace tailors design a style of dress that ensured comfort and mobility for her, more like a simple tea gown. Both commoners and nobility wear boots for footwear though, the difference only in style. Commoners’ boots are sturdy and simple, designed for lots of walking. Noble boots are more sleek and supple, having come from the design of riding boots. It is rare, only in the highest of families, for anyone to wear the likes of slippers. Coloration of clothing varies wildly, among all walks of life. Since Tycortua has a steady economy and manages to keep a good trade system with all nations, they have access to a wide variety of dyes relatively cheap. At least cheap enough that commoners can have access to most colors in a general sense. As such, color almost always depends on personal preference, even on a daily basis. The colors of nobility are often more vibrant than those of commoners, but no more varied. The only exception to this is that commoners will often have their working clothes be done in more muted or natural colors, browns, tans, and blacks, so that they don’t care if it gets dirty through work, saving their colored clothing for when they have the day off and the like.
Military
In regards to Tycortua’s military, they possess one of the most balanced and advanced militaries of the continent, even when considering one of the nations was devoted to military training and development under the Sunfire empire. Generically speaking, this comes from a long history of development in quality over quantity. Tycortua is notably a nation of middling size, among all of the nations of the continent, and therefore cannot compensate with massed numbers of conscripts when they were forced to do every job most nations had compartmentalized. For instance, the Tycortua standard armor is a kind of jack of plates, constructed in the form of a two layered leather coat with metal plates sewn on the inside. While not as effective in its base form, the fact that there are three separate layers to enchant, with two of them protected by the first, that means they have a greater versatility in enchanted armor and generally have better warded soldiers. The enchantments tend to be a ward against piercing and slashing on the outer layer and a ward to diffuse blunt force on the interior, with the wards upon the plates depending upon the personal specifications of the wearer, though a siege-breaker charm is always included, as with most armor. In the absence of any requests, broadly scoped anti-magic wards are placed to diffuse the flow of wide-scoped spells. As for the specifics, it is difficult to talk about equipment outside of the confines of the specific military corp, Tycortua having diversified into several such divisions. They are the Tycortua Regulars, Shield Corp, Ranger Corp, Champion Corp, Mage Corp, Naval Corp, Guard Corp and its elite Palace Guard, and the Royal Griffon Corp.
The Regulars form the bulk of the military and are, putting it rather simply, swordsmen and swordswomen like you could find just about anywhere. Beyond the standard armor, they come equipped with an arming sword, enchanted with top of the line honings. Further equipment depends upon the individual, as the hallmark of the Regulars is their diversity in specialization, each individual having some sort of trick they make their own. For some this means the usage of a shield, for some a minor magical talent. It all depends on what the individual considers their best ability beyond swordsmanship. In the absence of preference, a shield is given, in the heater shield style. They distinguish themselves from the standard army of other nations through their diversity in abilities. While they are trained to fight as a group, relying on their swords and the people standing next to them, the lack of coherence among the group makes them hard to get a handle on when they use their specialization as an ace in the hole. The Shield Corp is the primary defensive unit of the Tycortuan army and is both more heavily armored and equipped with heavy tower shields. Their armor is supplemented with a cuirass attached to the chest of their coat in addition to metal pauldrons, greaves, and vambraces. All of the metal pieces of armor possess lightening enchantments in addition to the strengthening wards to ensure they do not slow down the soldiers. For weapons, they are given long spears, as the Shield Corp’s intended usage is to form a shield wall to break a charge. The Ranger Corp is Tycortua’s contribution to the study of archery. Not much can be said about them, since Tycortua hardly focuses on archery, beyond the fact that they are intended to act as fire support for the Regulars and Shield Corp. They are somewhat more lightly armored, their coats having shorter tails and sleeves to make them lighter while compensating with bracers and gloves to protect the arms from the bowstring, though every group of about five will carry a pavise shield among them. Their bows are nothing special, not coming anywhere close to the longbows of Naktikos or the horse bows of Aingriya. The most that can be said in their praise is the wide range of arrows they use, almost acting as secondary mages with the amount of enchantments any given one has access to. The Champion Corp is Tycortua’s cavalry, meant to break lines for the Regulars. The horses are armored in chain barding, itself heavily warded, but the riders still only wear the standard coat armor, the Tycortuans holding to the same mistaken belief all on this continent hold that metal armor would be too heavy for the horse on top of the barding. They are armed with a heater shield and a lance for the charge, swapping to an arming sword once they get into close combat, though the Champion Corp is rarely intended to stay in combat long, retreating to form up for another charge whenever possible. They like hit and run tactics. The Mage Corp uses the same wizardry taught common along the mainland and explained in further detail below, so there is little to note here. Simply put, they focus upon warding spells to protect the troops and evocations to act almost like magical siege engines. Similarly, there is little to say about the Naval Corp. Tycortua has a navy, but their focus is hardly upon the ocean, so the navy is more of a defensive structure to protect ports and merchant ships from pirates and hostile navies. The marines of the Naval Corp are little more than Regulars and Rangers that have trained to specialize in naval combat. Finally, the Royal Griffon Corp of Tycortua is known for, as one might guess, taming and riding griffons into battle in a way similar to the dragonriders of Lugherion and the Realms of Erebus and Okeanos, though Tycortua has yet to develop their own form of drop-knights. The Royal Griffon Corp is made up of the elites of the Tycortuan army, drawing from each of the other divisions for their ranks. As such, there is no specific armament common to all of them, beyond something akin to the equipment they bore in their previous division. They are feared by other nations, for their flight if not for their strength. As for the Guard Corp and the palace guard, they are simply Regulars who have been assigned to defensive positions in cities and towns, acting as a policing force as well. The Palace Guard, as one might, guard the Palace in Riverluck and the royal family, considered to be the elites among the regulars. They differ in that they often carry pikes and are armored with a cuirass similar to the Shield Corp’s. As a final note, one cannot speak of Tycortua’s military without making note of the Crownguard. Even though there is only one Crownguard at any given time, a single soldier possessing Knight’s Plate is a force to be reckoned with, accounting for much of why Tycortua has not faced much war over the years. Simply by letting the Crownguard take the vanguard and crush an enemy’s lines, they were often able to bring forth a swift rout of any force they faced. In terms of spycraft, Tyrcortua loudly and frequently claims that ‘they do not deal in such actions’. Other nations, however, give little credit to those claims as the lurid tales of Tycortua’s maids and footmen are extensive enough to make anyone wonder just what type of servant attends to them when they visit one of the Tycortuan nobility.
Geography
Tycortua’s geography tends to be as mild as its climate. The lands north of the Summerblood are filled by rolling plains and thin forests. This provides them with excellent farmland, all the more because the soil of the plains is rarely broken by rocky ground and small streams lace the countryside. The plains are also mostly flat, even the few scattered hills suitable for things like terraced vineyards. Where the hills do grow thicker, there tends to be enough stone that mining is feasible. South of the Summerblood is a different story. Most of Tycortua’s land south of the Summerblood is filled by Thicket Forest. Thicket Forest, unlike the woods to the north, is dark, overgrown, and filled with dangerous creatures. More than that, it is actually much larger than it appears on maps thanks to other-worldly influence. The borderlands of several fae other-worlds, the Enchanted Forest Brocéliande, and the Primeval Forest of Herne bleed through into Thicket Forest, making it easy to get lost and exceptionally dangerous to travel through without a guide. Likewise, the Golden Hills take up the south-eastern corner of Tycortua. While they are not as dangerous as Thicket Forest and have less other-worldly influence, though not none, they are much rougher terrain. The hills are steeper and rockier than those in the plains. This does, on the other hand, have the benefit of making them much better for mining and much of Tycortua’s stone and metal ore comes from the Golden Hills.
It should also be noted that Tycortua experiences less other-worldly influence in general than the other nations of Chevaladin. For the most part, across the Realms nowhere can be considered truly safe unless it’s within the confines of Human habitation; a village, town, or city. Entering ‘the wilds’, even if that means an open plain where you can see for miles, means opening yourself up to the potential for mischief or worse from mystical beings. Tycortua, on the other hand, is mostly safe as long as you’re in the northern plains. There are mystical beings that frequent the plains and it’s certainly not without incident – seelie fey accounting for most of the former and things like dragons, stray undead, and werewolves accounting for much of the latter – but it’s much less of a sure thing. A lone traveler can make it from one city to the next unbothered without being considered extremely lucky. There are a few things minor reasons contributing to this such as the increased average ability of Tycortuans to defend themselves, but the most prominent reason is that the Unseelie and Seelie Courts of the Fey are the ones who fill the largest amount of the ‘other-worldly influence sphere’, as it were. Their particular nature among the fey makes them less inclined to seek trouble outside of their demesnes and they have something of a lingering affection for Tycortua sourced in the connection Zephyros had to them as one of the ‘Fair Folk’. With a certain pact made ten years prior smoothing over any remaining animosity, even the unseelie fey are less trouble than other nations experience. Likewise, the rest of the ‘other-worldly influence sphere’ is dominated by the metaphysics of the Scholastic faith and the angels of Low Empyrean and the fiends of Upper Abbadon have their own particular rules of engagement.
Religion
The religion of Tycortua tends to be based in one that is more founded in the culture of the native peoples as opposed to the culture Zephyros brought with him from Morningstar. The main form of worship is found in the Path of the Teacher, a quasi-monotheistic religion that is fairly widespread throughout the continent and thus was the native religion of the ancient people of Tycortua. To this end, of the religion being widespread, the central cathedral of the Path of the Teacher is in fact located on the Eye of the Teacher, on the heights of the mountain High Worldheart is built upon. The Path of the Teacher is defined as being quasi-monotheistic as a result of the primary deity, the Threefold Divines, being three different figures that are simultaneously considered one deity yet three distinct persons. There are two principal tenets of the religion. The first revolves around the equivalent dignity of every Human and treating each other with love. The second revolves around the secondary name of the religion, the Scholastic faith. Knowledge and wisdom are critically important to the faith with ignorance considered one of Humanity’s greatest evils, so the religion focuses to a heavy degree on the education of its adherents. To this end, the churches of the faith, Teacher’s Halls, double as school buildings and libraries. With this in mind, and the fact that every village has at least one Teacher’s Hall, Tycortua is one of the better educated nations in Chevaladin, on average. Every faithful is supposed to dedicate at least half of their working hours to studying general knowledge for at least the first twenty or so years of their life. From there, they continue to learn and study, but only insofar as their faith does not interfere with their work. Tycortua’s subsect of the Scholastic faith is slightly different from the mainline faith thanks to Zephyros’ influence. More so than any other nation, the River Sage, Seras, is viewed akin to a Saint and venerated as such. This is, technically, a heresy, but the holy see in High Worldheart tends to be willing to overlook it since it’s not too far from accurate anyway. Likewise, the virtue of honesty is played up a bit more in Tycortua. There is even a small sect of the Tycortuan faith which, remembering bits of Zephyros’ faith, tries to consolidate the Threefold Divines with the Golden Lady. That particular sect is less popular because it only avoids outright blasphemy thanks to the continuous efforts of its bishops to the alternative.
Magical Tradition
Tycortua’s magical tradition is, while advanced in terms of its learning, rather lackluster in terms of creativity. This is to say that the bulk of its traditions are the same as the common standard throughout the continent. For instance, the most common tradition in both their scholarly and military magics is the wizardly tradition common to the continent. This tradition, as established as the norm by the scholars in High Worldheart, focuses upon the study of magic through an intellectual lens, treating it almost like a science. They each bear a spell book in which they transcribe spells that they have studied. As previously noted, the military mages often focus on wards and evocations to study while the scholarly mages instead focus on various enchantments and spells to use in common life to supplement the advances brought about by Lattice engineering. The spellbooks themselves are not precisely required for casting a spell, as the magic comes from the casters themselves and is given form by the spell itself, not the book, but it is used as a memory aid for the ones a caster cannot or will not memorize and helps them to focus their magic. Similarly, this is where the common image of a wizard comes from, with most of them wearing enchanted robes for protection and comfort while carrying either a staff or wand, carved with the appropriate runes in both cases, to act as a further focus. Though for as much as this tradition is the same as traditions throughout the continent, it should be noted that the Tycortuan wizards can rival those of High Worldheart, the academic center of the continent, with the universities of Tycortua holding almost as much esteem as it.
Moving on to clerical magic, it is likewise lackluster in form, being the generic faith-based magic that almost all clerical magics are derived from. They cannot really be called anything other than clerics, or devouts if they are not in fact ordained, and use their magic through sheer force of belief. It’s simply one of those things that’s common sense for magic users, that those who can use magic can use prayers interchangeably with spells, the spell being cast as something of an answer to their faith, if not an answer from their deity though that is a far more nuanced discussion about metaphysics altogether. Tycortuan clerics and devouts only really focus on spells that heal, bless, and ward, only really being needed by the common people in most situations. It should be noted, bringing up their ability in the healing arts, that virtually all medical advances fall under the domain of such mages as well, medical sciences being considered virtually identical to healing magics in the same way wizardry is considered the same as engineering. As a result, medical advances in Tycortua, and throughout the world, have slipped somewhat due to their reliance upon magic. They excel at theory, understanding anatomy, biology, and virology, but are leagues behind what was common in the past in regards to devices and medicines. The only real combat spells these devouts possess are holy rites and exorcisms intended to deal with undead, fiends, and other such magical, unholy, and other-worldly beings. And like with the wizards, Tycortuan devouts make up for their lack of specialization in being very good at what they do. They are perhaps the greatest practictioners of faith based magic throughout the continent, Pazyerran Hierarchs the only ones that can really compete. They do not precisely require a focus, as their magic is based in faith and faith is usually independent of any symbols, but such symbols can help and devouts may use a talisman shaped after some symbol of their faith to aid in casting. And with both wizards and devouts, it should be pointed out that the strong tradition of magic within Tycortua permeates the citizenry in a way not experienced in other countries. While just about every village in the world will have a mage or two to perform wardings and honings on tools as well as minor healing spells, it is not to the extent as it is in Tycortua where it can be expected that every town will have mages beyond those, far more specialized. Hedge wizards and Greenmaidens or Greenmasters as the case may be are only found commonly in Tycortua, effectively everyday mages who make that their lifestyle without formally training at an academy.
Beyond those traditions, there are some magical traditions specific to Tycortua, though they are far rarer and in two of the three cases seem to be based upon the heritage of Tycortua’s founder, the Storm Warlord Zephyros Stormtide. The first is the most complicated of the three, being better described as a mystical tradition than magical one, since its operations don’t precisely follow the intellective structures of magic in redirecting the environmental magic into oneself to alter it in conjunction with one’s internal magic before reemitting it the form of a spell. This tradition is referred to as Dreamspinning, and that tells you just about everything you need to know about it. Admittedly, the name isn’t entirely accurate and seems to be a holdover from a basis upon the Dreamwalkers of Morningstar who literally walk through the Sea of Dreams and are markedly different from Tycortua’s Dreamspinners. Tycortuan Dreamspinners base their magic, for lack of a better term, upon the reading of dreams, both their own and others. This is used for a kind of minor future sight, allowing them to predict events based upon what they see or hear about dreams from others. By all accounts, it seems they possess some trained ability to see into the Sea of Dreams, but they cannot manipulate or traverse it as directly as Morningstar Dreamwalkers. Likewise, they seem to able to call forth some sort of dream spirits to enact magic in the real world, something along the line of those spirits temporarily granting a part of the real world the logic of the Sea of Dreams to allow manipulation, but they do not seem to be bonded as familiars or representative of the caster in any way. Dreamspinners require no focus, everything they accomplish being done either while asleep or as an analysis of what was experienced while asleep. Even the summoning of spirits is something that is more completed in reality through the invocation of an agreement made while dreaming. The second tradition is far more straightforward, known as Truthspeakers. The fact that their entire modus operandi revolves around truths and negating falsehood makes it fairly clear that it must have originated from Zephyros’ culture, the Fair and or Demon-folk of Morningstar prizing truth to the extent that it is integral to their very religion. As for Truthspeakers, they are a kind of law mage almost, wielding binding spells that can seal contracts such that the participants cannot break them. That is only a generic statement of their abilities, but gives a good idea of what they are capable of. With this in mind, Truthspeakers almost always carry around exhaustive references to the law to ensure that they will always speak the truth and what contracts they forge are made in truth. The final tradition unique to Tycortua is the rather infuriating tradition of the Gamblers. Quite frankly, it’s a fairly minor magical talent that has no reliable use outside of a tavern. And it’s this very reliability there and unreliability elsewhere that makes it absolutely enraging to deal with. Simply put, Gamblers are able to magically influence the tides of fortune and chance. They can temporarily grant themselves bursts of good luck or others bursts of bad luck. The exact scope of what can be affected is linked to the strength and skill of the caster, but most can’t affect more than the events of a few seconds in the immediate area. That being said, it is believed that some of the rather extraordinarily contrived events in history were caused by an incredibly powerful or foolish Gambler manipulating their craft. As might be expected, their focus is almost always something relating to chance, a favorite pair of dice or lucky coin. Though amusingly, it seems that loaded dice do not work for this purpose.
Map of Tycortua and The Surrounding Environs
Key:
A – Port Dicefall, The principal port of the Monarchy of Tycortua. It’s position near the Summer Road and on a highway to Plainsheart puts it at the center of all trade activity in Tycortua.
B – Seras’ Watch, A small fishing village. Not especially important save for the lighthouse after which it takes its name. The lighthouse of Seras’ Watch was supposedly built by the River Sage for the twin purposes of watching for the Crystal Queen’s return from the lost lands to the west and offering up her prayers in the hopes that the Ember King’s seal upon the Dusk Tyrant might remain.
C – Sunlit Bay, A small fishing village. Has some ties with the Auris Empire as their preferred port of trade, outside of their own Port Daystar. Virtually all Auran river traffic north from Riverbreak ends up in Sunlit Bay.
D – Wayside Inn, A small town which grew around the inn after which it is named. It’s importance largely derives from its at the terminus of the Summer Road and proximity to Port Dicefall. In short, it stands on the path of two of the four major points of entry into Tycortua.
E – Riverbreak, A town that stands at the fork of the Plainscut River. Nearly all river trade that does not pass into Perlora or Rugego passes through Riverbreak, making it a notable trading post.
F – Plainsheart, The economic capital of Tycortua. It stands in the center of the Tycortuan plains, nearly equidistant from Riverluck, the ocean, and all neighboring countries. All overland travel through Tycortua passes through Plainsheart.
G – Crossroads, A small Auran town that stands at, well, the crossroads where the Heartland Road splits into the Holy Road which leads deeper into the Emprie and the Seaside Road which leads up to Montiamon and, eventually, Pazyerra. Important because it’s a fortress through which the Empire can restrict western travel north.
H – Fortune’s Bridge, A city built on either side of the Summerblood, with a large bridge connecting the two halves. The northern half of Fortune’s Bridge and the surrounding areas originally belonged to Perlora, but Rugego conquered the land in the hopes of having their own means of entry into Tycortua and a way east that didn’t lead through Auran owned sections of Thicket Forest and the Golden Hills.
I – Woodcutter’s Crossing, A small town built on either side of the Summerblood, a ferry service connecting the two. Though it serves mostly as a way for the lumbering towns in southern Tycortua to send timber north, it’s also notable as Tycortua’s most prominent crossing of the great river and route by which the royal family usually travels to their summer palace.
J – Zephyr’s Blessing, A small town on the Tycortuan plains. Not especially noteworthy save for the fact that certain travelers visited it on their journey.
K – Chancewind, An ancient town built around a monastery said to have been founded by the River Sage, Seras, herself.
L – Riverluck, Capital of the Monarchy of Tycortua.
M – Summerfire, Capital of the Aristocracy of Rugego.
N – Forest’s Favor, A city built deep within Thicket Forest. It grew around the Tycortuan royal family’s summer palace. The palace itself was originally meant as Zephyros’ hunting lodge, explaining its location within otherwise dangerous lands. In modern times the defenses around Forest’s Favor are strong enough that the forest creatures cannot threaten it, supplemented by the fact that it serves as a posting for members of the Tycortuan Regulars to experience active combat against those same monsters.
O – Regina’s Bounty, A small village in the notably rural southern Tycortua. Mostly grows wheat and other staple foods for subsistence. The wines and brandies they ship up Seras’ Stream to the Summerblood have a minor following among other farming towns, but are not especially famous. Only worth note as the home of Allard Fortunata and Erica Greenmaiden, as well as the local legend that it serves as the site of Seras’s grave.