Renda is a planet in the Hyderon Solar System, third from the sun, and between the dual-ringed planet of Matrimony and a large, tumbling asteroid belt. It's home to millions of different things, both people, plant, beast, or other.
Abberations, Beasts, Celestials, Constructs, Dragons, Fae, Fiends, Giants, Monstrosities, Oozes, Plants, and the Undead all call this planet home -- not to mention the dozens of different peoples, such as Humans, Elves, Ogres, Orcs, Halflings, Gnomes, the Dragonborn, Tieflings, Pocklings, Kenkus, Hobgoblins... you get the idea!
It's home to many kingdoms. From left to right, we have:
- Mazixtel, a kingdom of jungles and rainforests
- Khistarga, the largest continent -- home to the Skylit Mountain Range (the longest and tallest in the world) and the Golden Waste, the desert that lies on each side of it
- Ocrea, the "Land of Forests and Streams," which is home to both acceptance and conflict alike
- The Kingdom of Myzos, an independent subsection of Ocrea that prefers to stay that way
- Ki-San, the "home of warfare"
- Kaido, the archipelagos southeast of Ki-San, and far from friends with the mainland
- Qi-Won, a northern country that finds its land often covered in snow.
- Atlantis, a mysterious aquatic kingdom that comes and goes in the mist.
There's also the North and South poles, which are unique in their own right. The North is home to the Kingdom of Wyvern, a vast frozen city ruled by a tyrant king, upon which they send their armies to attempt invasion of the lower lands and are only stopped by the soldiers of the monstrous mountain-castle hybrid, Fort Flynight.
The South, however, is more of a mystery. Rumors abound about its actual nature. Is it frozen, covered in ice and snow? Is it inhabited? Or is it even there? Travel to the South Pole is fraught with misfortune, and doesn't often succeed. But those that do get there never return...
Each of these lands has stories to tell and places to go. Mazixtel, for example, is home to Mount Cobalt, the first of three peaks in what is known as the "Triangle of Heaven." A mysterious mountain it is, for at its core is a lake, and when it erupts with its brothers it spews not boiling hot magma or lava, but freezing cold water. Its pools and ponds, both inside and out, flow down into the Fallen River, winding through the jungles and lakes of a very lush, green land.
Khistarga, on the other hand, is home to the dry prairies, savannas, and deserts of the world with the largest mountain range on the planet. The wilderness is home to beasts unknown, with towering trees, fields of golden grass, and canyons of hard, red stone. The remnants of empires long dead are scattered across its scarred surface, their histories lost to the kingdoms and cities that have since taken their place.
Ocrea has what the others do not, in that it's teeming with forests and swamps. The walled city of Taraus stands to oppose that of Croila, both with warriors that dawn mohawked-helms -- life in The Wastelands of Myzos is filled with poverty, swamp gas, and the struggle to survive, whereas the affluence in supercities like Mooran and Gallanai are something of a novelty in the world abroad.
The Elves of Gilead don't take kindly to strangers, yet the Yggdrasil Corporation, stationed in the north at the largest tree in the world, accepts all. Ocrea is a land of contradictions and adventure.
Which brings us to Ki-San, Kaido, and Qi-Won: The Islands of War.
Centuries have these cultures been embroiled in conflict, staying often out of the endeavors of the other kingdoms. Owlbears roam where pandas feed -- monkeys dance where foxes breed -- and on any given field of tall, flowing grass one can find the pieces of armor, spears, and curved blades these peoples used in battles long over.
Magic and dragons rule all of these lands, as do all manner of peoples. Mysteries and miracles spin and play with darkness and war. But that is always how it is with us humans, isn't it?
(At some point, I'll release the world's notes so others can run a game in the world as well!)
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