Post by Doctor Atomic on Aug 17, 2021 14:40:19 GMT -8
Introduction
About 100 years ago, during a worldwide cataclysm, an unnamed angel rescued people from many lands and brought them to the city of Shallavar to take refuge and make new lives. The city was uninhabited and there was (and still is) more room than the survivors could fill. Its origins and age are unknown but it shows wear that is estimated at over 500 years.
The city itself is a collection of ziggurats and other cyclopean stone construction built upon 1 mile by 1 mile massive stone platforms that rise 50’ from the jungle floor, set in a high mountain valley either surrounded by mountains rising above it or by sheer cliffs that offer a long fall down to a tropical rainforest infested by dinosaurs and other massive, hostile, megafauna (there is a narrow switch back trail that descends to the valley floor but it is said that no one who ever descended to the jungle below has returned). The city is thus utterly isolated and totally self-sufficient.
It is constructed of rose colour concrete set with jade panels or enameled with crushed jade and embellished with bronze metal work (art deco styling). All designs are abstract, there are no representational images.
The land is quite fertile and is farmed extensively, along with terrace farms cut into the surrounding mountains and extensive gardens in the city itself. Pigs, goats, and chickens provide the available animal proteins and are supplemented with local small mammals and reptiles. The only traction animals are donkeys, the horses and cattle that were brought here did not thrive and died off within a few years.
The climate is usually benign, from late spring to early fall it is hot and humid with intermittent rain and from late fall to early spring it is cool to cold with regular rain. It rarely snows but violent storms are not unknown.
The survivors lost their much of their cultures in the fall of civilization and have forged a new one from the half-forgotten memories and new traditions that arose after they came to Shallavar. It is estimated that the angel brought approximately 6000 people, mostly children and young people, to the city. The population has grown to about 13000 during the century that passed.
Shallavar is named for the first Director, a woman who had lost her whole family in the cataclysm but did not let grief overcome here like most of the other refugees. She organized the survivors and berated them into working if required and she is credited with organizing what became the current society.
The city is governed by a council of 7 Directors that are elected every three years in a general election. There are numerous guilds in the city; the major ones being the farmer’s guild, the miner’s and metalworker’s guild, the weaver’s guild, the carpenter’s guild.
There is a city militia, formed when people arrived in the city during the cataclysm, but as there are almost no real threats it has become a social club focused around contests of crossbow shooting and physical fitness.
The city is quite advanced and uses scientific sorcery for its utilities. There is hot and cold running water, heating elements for cooking and industry, cooling elements for refrigerating food, trams for moving people and goods around the city, motorised sockets in floors or walls to drive mechanisms like grinders and other tools, a sewage system, and lighting. There is no communication system; this has given rise to a guild of messengers within the Directorate.
Fashions are generally simple; most people wear knee length pants or a kilt with sandals, with a robe tied with a sash if the weather is cool; woven ponchos are popular rain wear. Some people more or less maintain the cultural dress of their ancestors and one can also see fashions similar what was worn in the medieval and renaissance eras in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
Life is neither demanding nor challenging and most citizens enjoy living in Shallavar where they don’t have to work hard and have plenty of leisure and social time.
The Cataclysm
The exact details are obscure but most accounts agree that jets of flame fell from the sky and that there were earthquakes, tidal waves, and attacks by unknown beings. Whole cities were destroyed and the death toll was unimaginable.
Cultures
The majority of the refugees came from three cultures; these are the Haskadi, the Elmarith, and the Vothe. They accounted for perhaps 4500 of the saved, with the last 1500 or so were made up of a mixture with no single group having more than a few hundred members and some with only a few dozen people. No complete census was ever taken at the beginning.
The Haskadi were steppes nomads known for their horsemanship.
The Elmarith was tropical islanders and oceanic explorers.
The Vothe were farmers, foresters and mountaineers.
The Angel
Descriptions of the Angel who rescued people and brought them to Shallavar vary; he is alternately tall and short, slim and heavy, and pale and dark skinned. The only agreed upon points are his long red hair and glowing golden eyes. Everyone also agreed that he appeared in a flash of light and gathered people together as buildings burned and the streets ran red with blood, conjuring a gate that took them to safety.
Religion
Religion is a bit vague and abstract in Shallavar. The priests and acolytes who were brought here did not feel a connection to their gods and lost their ability to use divine magic. It took generations of meditation for those seeking a spiritual life to develop the ability to sense and manipulate the streams of divine energy that are part of the world.
The Church of Shallavar is loosely organized around the Hospital and serves as a force for good, seeking to promote the welfare of the inhabitants.
Magic and Scientific Sorcery
Magic is the product of the will of an individual, scientific sorcery is the arcane industrialized for mass production.
The Dream Weaver
This magical device allows someone to be instructed on a wide variety of topics, including the use of magic, while in a dreamlike trance.
The Gymnasiums
A gymnasium is a place where people gather and enjoy sports and physical training as well as being a social centre for the neighborhood. Each gymnasium musters with the militia as a column.
The Blue Wolf Gymnasium is the smallest in the city but offers the most intense training and has a dream weaver for the study magic.
The Blue Belt Challenge
When a person joins a gymnasium they are called Applicants, when they complete the basic curriculum they are granted the title Dedicated. In the case of Blue Wolf there is also the Blue Belt challenge, where they go to a jungle valley and collect rubbings from certain ruins.
About 100 years ago, during a worldwide cataclysm, an unnamed angel rescued people from many lands and brought them to the city of Shallavar to take refuge and make new lives. The city was uninhabited and there was (and still is) more room than the survivors could fill. Its origins and age are unknown but it shows wear that is estimated at over 500 years.
The city itself is a collection of ziggurats and other cyclopean stone construction built upon 1 mile by 1 mile massive stone platforms that rise 50’ from the jungle floor, set in a high mountain valley either surrounded by mountains rising above it or by sheer cliffs that offer a long fall down to a tropical rainforest infested by dinosaurs and other massive, hostile, megafauna (there is a narrow switch back trail that descends to the valley floor but it is said that no one who ever descended to the jungle below has returned). The city is thus utterly isolated and totally self-sufficient.
It is constructed of rose colour concrete set with jade panels or enameled with crushed jade and embellished with bronze metal work (art deco styling). All designs are abstract, there are no representational images.
The land is quite fertile and is farmed extensively, along with terrace farms cut into the surrounding mountains and extensive gardens in the city itself. Pigs, goats, and chickens provide the available animal proteins and are supplemented with local small mammals and reptiles. The only traction animals are donkeys, the horses and cattle that were brought here did not thrive and died off within a few years.
The climate is usually benign, from late spring to early fall it is hot and humid with intermittent rain and from late fall to early spring it is cool to cold with regular rain. It rarely snows but violent storms are not unknown.
The survivors lost their much of their cultures in the fall of civilization and have forged a new one from the half-forgotten memories and new traditions that arose after they came to Shallavar. It is estimated that the angel brought approximately 6000 people, mostly children and young people, to the city. The population has grown to about 13000 during the century that passed.
Shallavar is named for the first Director, a woman who had lost her whole family in the cataclysm but did not let grief overcome here like most of the other refugees. She organized the survivors and berated them into working if required and she is credited with organizing what became the current society.
The city is governed by a council of 7 Directors that are elected every three years in a general election. There are numerous guilds in the city; the major ones being the farmer’s guild, the miner’s and metalworker’s guild, the weaver’s guild, the carpenter’s guild.
There is a city militia, formed when people arrived in the city during the cataclysm, but as there are almost no real threats it has become a social club focused around contests of crossbow shooting and physical fitness.
The city is quite advanced and uses scientific sorcery for its utilities. There is hot and cold running water, heating elements for cooking and industry, cooling elements for refrigerating food, trams for moving people and goods around the city, motorised sockets in floors or walls to drive mechanisms like grinders and other tools, a sewage system, and lighting. There is no communication system; this has given rise to a guild of messengers within the Directorate.
Fashions are generally simple; most people wear knee length pants or a kilt with sandals, with a robe tied with a sash if the weather is cool; woven ponchos are popular rain wear. Some people more or less maintain the cultural dress of their ancestors and one can also see fashions similar what was worn in the medieval and renaissance eras in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
Life is neither demanding nor challenging and most citizens enjoy living in Shallavar where they don’t have to work hard and have plenty of leisure and social time.
The Cataclysm
The exact details are obscure but most accounts agree that jets of flame fell from the sky and that there were earthquakes, tidal waves, and attacks by unknown beings. Whole cities were destroyed and the death toll was unimaginable.
Cultures
The majority of the refugees came from three cultures; these are the Haskadi, the Elmarith, and the Vothe. They accounted for perhaps 4500 of the saved, with the last 1500 or so were made up of a mixture with no single group having more than a few hundred members and some with only a few dozen people. No complete census was ever taken at the beginning.
The Haskadi were steppes nomads known for their horsemanship.
The Elmarith was tropical islanders and oceanic explorers.
The Vothe were farmers, foresters and mountaineers.
The Angel
Descriptions of the Angel who rescued people and brought them to Shallavar vary; he is alternately tall and short, slim and heavy, and pale and dark skinned. The only agreed upon points are his long red hair and glowing golden eyes. Everyone also agreed that he appeared in a flash of light and gathered people together as buildings burned and the streets ran red with blood, conjuring a gate that took them to safety.
Religion
Religion is a bit vague and abstract in Shallavar. The priests and acolytes who were brought here did not feel a connection to their gods and lost their ability to use divine magic. It took generations of meditation for those seeking a spiritual life to develop the ability to sense and manipulate the streams of divine energy that are part of the world.
The Church of Shallavar is loosely organized around the Hospital and serves as a force for good, seeking to promote the welfare of the inhabitants.
Magic and Scientific Sorcery
Magic is the product of the will of an individual, scientific sorcery is the arcane industrialized for mass production.
The Dream Weaver
This magical device allows someone to be instructed on a wide variety of topics, including the use of magic, while in a dreamlike trance.
The Gymnasiums
A gymnasium is a place where people gather and enjoy sports and physical training as well as being a social centre for the neighborhood. Each gymnasium musters with the militia as a column.
The Blue Wolf Gymnasium is the smallest in the city but offers the most intense training and has a dream weaver for the study magic.
The Blue Belt Challenge
When a person joins a gymnasium they are called Applicants, when they complete the basic curriculum they are granted the title Dedicated. In the case of Blue Wolf there is also the Blue Belt challenge, where they go to a jungle valley and collect rubbings from certain ruins.